South Yorkshire Times July 26, 1947

South African Emigrants Beware
Pitfalls Warning By Swinton Curate Now Archdeacon

if you’re thinking of trekking out to South Africa to live in a “land of plenty” you should know exactly what you are going to do there before taking the step, the Rev GL Tindall, a former Swinton curate, was lived out there since 1937, told a “South Yorkshire Times” reporter. Mr Tindall, who is now Archdeacon of Bechuanaland in the diocese of Kimberley, sailed once again for South Africa on Thursday after his English furlough.

Before leaving Swinton, where he has been staying with his wife’s parents, Mr and Mrs E.E.  Smith, at 28 Cliffe Field Rd, gave one reporter enlightening facts about the South African topics which are interesting Englishmen at the present time will stop

“There are many people who seem to think it a good thing to set out for South Africa to improve their prospects, but unless one knows the facts about the living conditions out there, can be a disastrous step,” he said.

Cost of living in South Africa Mr Tindall imagines to be much the same as in England, but life there harder for the man looking for a job.

“He must know exactly what he’s going to do before he goes,” he said, “a good many immigrants are finding it a very hard country because they went out without this knowledge. It is very important that young people should realise that South Africa is in many ways a first-class country, but there is no room for the unskilled immigrant.”

At the moment there were 37,000 people waiting for shipping passages from England to South Africa.

Colour Bar

English people with their racial tolerance often find it difficult to understand the “colour bar” in South Africa what Mr Tindall had to say on this point will be enlightening.

“The visitor from England be appalled by the colour bar,” he declared with emphasis. “The average European considers any person who is not white – that is the half castes and mixed breed, generally referred to as coloured, and the African Native – Is Inferior. For example the African native with a first-class oxford degree would, in South Africa, have no vote and, except in the most exceptional circumstances, have none of the same rights and privileges enjoyed by any European. On the whole it is fair to say that the only avenue open to the Educated South African native is the teaching profession.”

And even then his rate of payment will be lower than that of the European doing an identical job, Mr Tindall explained.

“The church in South Africa takes a stand – and a very firm stand– on this matter. It says that no man could be rejected or despised merely because of the colour of his skin,” he added.

In 1940, in South Africa, Mr Tindall married Mr and Mrs Smith only daughter, Miss Chris Smith, and they have two children, Mary and John, aged six and four respectively. Mrs Tindall had not been in South Africa previously, but went out to marry her husband, who is a Lincolnshire man.