The Administration and Control of Migratory Labour on the S.A. Gold Mines: Capitalism and the State in the Era of Kruger and Milner

Literature › Works

A. H. Jeeves (1975). The Administration and Control of Migratory Labour on the S.A. Gold Mines: Capitalism and the State in the Era of Kruger and Milner. African Studies Seminar Paper No. 026, African Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand. University of the Witwatersrand, African Studies Institute.

Type	conference paper
Scope	Economics and economic history of apartheid
Method	archival narrative
Period studied	1890–1912
Regions	Transvaal / Witwatersrand, Mozambique, Cape Colony and Basutoland, northern Transvaal, Britain (Colonial Office)
Themes	origins segregation, mining migrant labour, business and state, labour markets wages, unions strikes, politics ideology elections
Citation key	jeeves1975

Argument

The Rand mining industry relied on state help from the Kruger republic onward, above all to organise the black labour supply. Jeeves traces this to mining economics. The industry committed early to low-grade, cost-sensitive ore, and it persuaded governments and commissions that the welfare of the whole industry depended on its weakest mines. Pass laws, labour-agent regulation, compound reform and diplomatic backing for WNLA's Mozambique monopsony were the state's contributions. The 1906 Robinson/Elgin crisis shows that the mines were divided and prone to destructive competition, so they depended on the state rather than dominating it. Labour was cheap on rich and poor mines alike, so it was used wastefully, and the state protected the owners from the consequences.

Evidence and method

Transvaal Archives (Secretary for Native Affairs files, Governor and High Commissioner archives), Chamber of Mines annual reports, Colonial Office confidential prints, Rand Mines Archive, Fitzpatrick papers, evidence to the 1897 Industrial Commission, the 1903 Transvaal Labour Commission and SANAC, and secondary works (van der Horst, Denoon, Newby, Wolpe, Legassick).

Place in the debates

• Capitalist domination of the state vs state autonomy in the Crown Colony period (Newby revision) (see The state and capital: instrumentalism, autonomy and fractions of capital). Takes a middle course. The state and the mines formed a close working alliance, yet the mines were dependent on government and divided among themselves rather than dominant. He argues Lagden's department often deferred to the Chamber and WNLA.
• Whether the 1902-3 labour shortage was artificially manufactured by the mine owners (van der Horst/Denoon) (see The mine migrant labour system: origins, recruitment, foreign labour and stabilisation). Partly dissents. The post-war wage and expansion decisions owed more to commitment to low-grade ore than to greed, though he admits the thirty-shilling wage was absurdly low. He also disputes Denoon's claim that there was no shortage by late 1905.
• Target-worker argument on wages within the industry (see The mine migrant labour system: origins, recruitment, foreign labour and stabilisation). Shows that industry opinion was divided on it in 1902 and that the proponents of higher wages won.
• Cheap labour thesis (Wolpe, Legassick) and the role of the state in labour control (see Cheap labour thesis and the function of the reserves). Accepts that coercive labour legislation sustained cheap migrant labour, but stresses dependence of capital on the state and the low-grade-mine cost logic.

Findings

• Although the mines needed no cash subsidies until the 1960s, they needed continuous legislative and administrative help to organise black labour, a key cost. (p. 2)

  what it did require through-out its history was an enormous legislative end administrative effort to organize the black labour supply

• As early as 1890 the Chamber of Mines asked the government to take over organising labour supply because private enterprise had failed. (p. 8)

  Private enterprise has repeatedly failed in attempting to organize end maintain an adequate supply of Kaffirs.

• The 1895 pass law for 'labour districts', drafted by the Chamber, set up a rudimentary influx-control and identification system. (p. 8)

  new pass law provided for a rudimentary form of influx control

• The pass law coincided with wage-reduction agreements and the RNLA monopsony, and was designed partly to stop mines poaching each other's labour. (p. 9)

  cutting black wages by thirty per cent and providing for a system of inspection of company wage sheeta to

• Native Affairs Department inspectors, nominal protectors of Africans, served the owners by enforcing industrial discipline and suppressing strikes. (p. 13)

  ths inspectors acted primarily in the interest of the owners to enforce a harsh industriel discipline

• Compound mortality was very high in the early Crown Colony years, and Lagden's mortality statistics were later used to press for reform. (p. 14)

  rate ua3 probably betasen aighty and ona hundred per thousand psr annum

• The mid-1906 collapse in African employment, combined with the Liberal government's threat to end Chinese labour, triggered the crisis. (p. 18)

  The low point was reached in July, 1906 when only 90,420 Africans ware employed.

• WNLA lost control of its own recruiters in the northern Transvaal during the 1906 crisis. (p. 25)

  mere than ten par cent of tha available supply in tha northern Trans-vaal

• The monopsony within South Africa was not renewed until the 1912 Native Recruiting Corporation. (p. 25)

  Not until 1912 with the formation of the Native Recruiting Corporation UBS the industry able to begin to renew the monopsony within South Africa itself.

• The state's role arose from the industry's divisions rather than its strength. (p. 25)

  The mining industry was brought into close asso-ciation with government not because it was strong, united and able to impose its will but because it was divided in its councils

• Low-grade-mine-driven labour policy made labour cheap everywhere on the Rand and encouraged wasteful use. (p. 26)

  labour was, therefore, cheap on rich as well as low grade mines, it was waste fully and ine,f f iciently used

Evidence ledger

Sources used

Source	Kind	Period	How used
Chamber of Mines Annual Reports (CMAR), 1890-1906	employer association records	1890-1906	Documents Chamber requests for state labour assistance, pass-law drafting, wage agreements, and the 1906 correspondence with the High Commissioner on recruiting.
Transvaal Archives Depot, Secretary of Native Affairs (SNA) files, 1901-1907	state archives	1901-1907	Correspondence among Lagden, the Chamber, WNLA and the Colonial Office shows the close ties, the compound inspectors' conduct, and the Robinson/TMLC crisis of 1906.
Colonial Office Confidential Print, African South (CO 879) and CO 291/CO 879 despatches (Selborne-Elgin correspondence)	state archives	1901-1907	Establishes Robinson's letters to Elgin, Elgin's support for his recruiting licences, Selborne's replies and the Botha settlement.
Transvaal Archives, Governor of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony (GOV) and High Commissioner (HC) archives	state archives	1903-1906	Supplies Chief Inspector reports, compound-manager dismissals and Selborne-Elgin correspondence.
Transvaal Colonial Secretary Archive, CS 1085/3142/1905 'Influx and Exodus of Natives from Mines and Works, July 1904 - June 1905'	state archives	1904-1905	Supplies the monthly African employment figures behind the 1905-06 labour supply fluctuation (peak 107,756; low 90,420).
Evidence and Report of the Industrial Commission of Inquiry (Johannesburg, 1897)	commission or official report	1897	Testimony on low-grade mine difficulties, idle plant, labour costs, pass-law enforcement, and bribery of officials.
Report and Evidence of the Transvaal Labour Commission, 1903	commission or official report	1903	Testimony on pre-war compound conditions, labour touts, and the mortality report by mine doctors.
Secretary of the Transvaal Labour Commission Archive (TAD), vol. II statements	state archives	1903	Statements and memoranda supporting the argument on African unwillingness to work on the mines.
Mining Industry Commission 1907-08, evidence of J. Reyersbach	commission or official report	1907-1908	Rand Mines chairman's estimate of low-grade ore yields (16s per ton vs 40s in 1897, 34s 6d in 1906); evidence of falling grade of extracted ore.
Transvaal Administration Reports for 1902	official statistical series	1902	Reports of the pass department, fingerprint branch and Chief Inspector of Native Affairs on compounds.
Transvaal Native Affairs Department, Annual Reports for years ending 30 June 1904 and 1905	official statistical series	1904-1905	Shows mortality statistics, compound improvements and the subsequent fall in death rates.
Report on the Mortality of Natives on the mines (committee of mine doctors), in TLC	commission or official report	c.1903	Evidence of Chamber-sponsored research into mortality causes.
J.P. Fitzpatrick Papers (private, held by his daughter) and Layds Argief, Lionel Phillips letterbook	company records or reports	1893-1897	Supports claims of bribery of Joubert and funding of anti-Kruger candidates in 1898.
Rhodes House, Charter Consolidated papers	company records or reports	1897	Draft statement of industry grievances in 1897.
Transvaal Volksraad laws and resolutions (Law 23 of 1895; resolution of 1896) in Barber translation, and Report of the Superintendent of Natives, ZAR 1897	legislation gazette	1895-1899	Documents the 1895 labour-district pass law and the 1896 chiefs' bounty for labourers.
Cape of Good Hope, Report of Native Delegates ... G.4-1904	commission or official report	1904	Source for African views of mine labour and compound conditions.
WNLA fortnightly and bi-monthly reports to the board of management	employer association records	1902-1905	Show the Native Affairs Department was routinely sent confidential WNLA reports.
Frankel's calculation of industry return on gross capital investment (S.H. Frankel)	secondary literature compilation	pre-1930s	Used to show low returns to the industry on gross capital investment.
C.S. Goldmann, Deep Level Mines of the Rand; C.A. Denny, Deep Level Mines of the Rand (1902)	secondary literature compilation	1897-1902	Black labour cost estimated as around 24 per cent of total costs.
S.T. van der Horst, Native Labour in South Africa (data on wage rates)	secondary literature compilation	1897-1903	Wage-rate figures of 30s and 50s per month, and the dating of state support for low-grade mines.
Newspapers: Johannesburg Star (4 April 1902); The Times (31 October, 7 November 1929)	newspapers periodicals	1902, 1929	Rouliot's presidential address and obituaries of Robinson.

Inference

Quantification: Illustrative figures.

Archival case study and narrative reconstruction of Chamber of Mines, WNLA and state relations, especially the 1906 recruiting crisis, using correspondence and commission evidence. Argument rests on qualitative interpretation and a few figures, not systematic data.

Key claims

Claim	Basis	Strength
The mining industry's emphasis on low-grade ore drove its reliance on cheap labour and on state action to control labour costs. (p. 6)	Reyersbach's 1907 evidence on yield averages, 1897 Industrial Commission testimony, and Frankel's return calculations; interpretive.	Partial data
The 1895 pass law and associated measures were designed partly to prevent mines 'stealing' labour from each other, coinciding with the 1896-97 wage reductions and the RNLA. (p. 9)	CMAR 1895-97, Industrial Commission and TLC testimony of pass officers and recruiters.	Partial data
Native Affairs Department inspectors acted as allies of mine owners, enforcing industrial discipline, while close personal ties blurred state and industry. (p. 13)	SNA correspondence, Chief Inspector's reports (13 assault and 28 wage cases in contrast to over 3000 disciplined Africans), personnel transfers.	Partial data
Compound conditions before and just after the war were appalling, with a probable death rate of 80-100 per thousand, and the NAD under Lagden pushed reform using mortality statistics. (p. 14)	TLC testimony, private letter to Lagden, NAD inspectors' reports and Annual Reports 1904-05; mortality estimate asserted given no statistics.	Partial data
African mine employment peaked at 107,756 in April 1905, fell to 90,420 by July 1906, and Chinese labour compensated, leaving the total non-white force steady. (p. 18)	HC 17/86 employment statistics and CS 1085/3142/1905 influx/exodus returns.	Systematic data
The 1906 crisis, in which Robinson used the Liberal government to break the WNLA monopsony, shows the mining industry was divided and dependent on the state rather than dominant. (p. 25)	Colonial Office confidential prints, SNA files on Robinson, Wilson, Elgin and Selborne, and Chamber of Mines letters of 1906.	Partial data
In 1906 WNLA recruited only about ten per cent of the available supply in the northern Transvaal (2,337 of 22,601), and it collapsed as members evaded the monopsony. (p. 25)	Recruiting figures for January-October 1906, apparently from SNA/WNLA records (footnote 112).	Partial data

The author's caveats

Notes that mortality statistics are unavailable for the pre-1902 period and that evidence is lacking on whether mines worked richer ores. Acknowledges that commissions relied on Chamber data, which the Chamber monopolised.

Gaps in the evidence

The argument leans on official and elite correspondence and does not use mine-level cost, grade and wage data to test the low-grade thesis; such company records existed and survive in the archives. African workers' own perspectives and recruiting records at the district level are largely absent. Systematic Chamber and WNLA recruitment and mortality returns would test the claims on labour supply and conditions better.

Replicability: Data described but not public.