ABSTRACT
The geology of the reef did more than determine the geography of class of Johannesburg, it also determined the history of the gold mining industry in South Africa from the point of view of both technology and labour. From the point of view of the social history of the white working class, the 17 years that separate the beginning of deep level mining from the concession of Responsible Government to the Transvaal were formative years. The slumps of the economy, the high cost of living, the poor sanitary conditions of the neighbourhoods, illness and death were some of the constitutive elements of white working class experience in Johannesburg. Milner's immigration policy, particularly in its relation to the reproduction of the white working class, addressed as much a political-ideological problem as an economic one. The Immigration Act of 1902, which provided the legal framework for Milner's policy, was promulgated in August 1903.
