The written history of modern South Africa is limited by the moratorium on archival material common to' all contemporary research, and the present study is intended, in part, to help fill this gap. It has a two- fold design: first, to point out some of the anomalies in the relationship between administration and policy and secondly, to show the extent to which they are interdependent in Dr. D.L. Smit ' s career. In the process, I hope to clarify and to comment on some of the mechanics involved in Native Administration.