WNLA, noun

Forms:
Also W.N.L.A.
Origin:
Initial letters of Witwatersrand Native Labour Association.
An organization established in 1902 by the Chamber of Mines with the aim of recruiting mine labourers from northern Botswana, Mozambique, Malawi, and other African countries north of the Limpopo River (see quotation 1972); Wenela sense a. Also attributive.
Note:
On 1 January 1977 the WNLA merged with the Native Recruiting Corporation (see N.R.C. noun1) to form Teba.
1903 Tvl Leader in Ilanga 5 June 3He received a reply from the manager of the W.N.L.A...The number of natives employed on the mines which were members of the association..was..59,280.
1951 Off. Yr Bk of Union No. 25, 1949 (Union Office of Census & Statistics) 920The majority of natives engaged by the W.N.L.A., contract to remain on the mines for twelve months.., but thereafter the natives are under the obligation to return to their homes. The W.N.L.A. engaged 124,000 natives during 1949.
1963 A.P. Cartwright Gold Miners 216Between them the W.N.L.A. and the N.R.C. now bring some four-hundred thousand natives to the mines every year.
1968 Cole & Flaherty House of Bondage 22We were picked up by a Chamber of Mines official and driven to the WNLA depot.
1972 W.P. Kirsten in Std Encycl. of Sn Afr. VII. 442The W.N.L.A. recruits Bantu labourers in Mozambique and in certain areas north of latitude 22o south, particularly Malawi, Northern Botswana and Barotseland. The W.N.L.A. also engages Bantu from Angola and Tanzania...The N.R.C. obtains labour from South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho and that part of Botswana south of latitude 22o south.
1986 Kallaway & Pearson Johannesburg 11The WNLA secured a monopoly on labour recruitment for the mines.
An organization established in 1902 by the Chamber of Mines with the aim of recruiting mine labourers from northern Botswana, Mozambique, Malawi, and other African countries north of the Limpopo River (see quotation 1972); Wenela sense a. Also attributive.
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acronyms
Wit Wolf, noun phrasen. phr.woema, nounn.
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