SOUTH AFRICA: A Nation’s Conscience

Last December 2,000 native (Negro) municipal workers rioted in Pretoria after demanding a $1-a-week raise above their weekly scale. Troops fired on the rioters, killed 16, wounded 66 (TIME, Jan. 11). For South Africa to contemplate last week was the report of a commission headed by liberal-minded Justice John Murray. It found: 1) the riot sprang spontaneously from wage grievances and disgraceful housing conditions; 2) ten of those killed were shot in the back while running to escape armored cars. In a land where 2,000,000 whites dominate 7,000,000 restive Negroes the report was dynamite. It was also an earnest of a nation’s conscience.