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Title: South Africa and the Transvaal War, Vol. 8 (of 8)
South Africa and its Future
Author: Various
Editor: Louis Creswicke
Release Date: November 24, 2014 [EBook #47449]
Language: English
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SOUTH AFRICA AND THE
TRANSVAAL WAR
[Illustration: A STOCK FARM.
After a Photo in the Natal Government Collection, by permission.]
SOUTH AFRICA
AND THE
TRANSVAAL WAR
BY
LOUIS CRESWICKE
AUTHOR OF "ROXANE," ETC.
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS
VOL. VIII
SOUTH AFRICA AND ITS FUTURE
EDITED BY
LOUIS CRESWICKE
MANCHESTER: KENNETH MACLENNAN
75 PICCADILLY
PREFACE--VOL. VIII.
Everyone who has followed the story of the War in South Africa from
start to finish will assuredly have acquired a keen and lasting interest
in the land which has been won by the expenditure of so much blood and
treasure. Earnestly will he discuss in his mind all questions connected
with the development of the New Dominions of the King, and vigilantly
will he watch every action of the Government in regard to them.
In order rightly to estimate the difficulties to be overcome and the
issues to be hoped for, and to follow these questions with complete
apprehension, it is necessary to be familiar with their aspect in every
possible light. To this end, the Editor has invited the co-operation of
various well-known Authorities, each of whom has kindly contributed his
opinion on matters coming within his special experience.
The Publishers claim, therefore, that in this Volume is collected the
cream of modern thought, furnished at first-hand by those whose mastery
of their subject, and whose interest in the Empire, render them
competent to instruct in the intricacies of the South African problems,
with which for some time to come we must stand face-to-face. That these
writers do not on all points entirely agree is a matter for
congratulation, as readers are thus enabled to view the political
panorama from every reasonable standpoint, and weigh the pros and cons
of their arguments with perspicuity and without prejudice.
At the present juncture, when Mr. Chamberlain, the greatest of Colonial
Secretaries, is visiting South Africa, the Publishers are convinced that
this Volume is the most valuable book on the new Colonies that has yet
been offered to the Public.
CONTENTS--VOL. VIII.
PAGE
EMIGRATION 1
By His Grace THE DUKE OF ARGYLL, P.C., K.T.; Author of
"Imperial Federation," "The Life and Times of Queen Victoria," &c.
SOUTH AFRICAN FEDERATION: VIEWS OF COLONIAL PREMIERS 16
By E. B. OSBORN, Author of "Greater Canada."
LAW AND LANGUAGE 23
By M. J. FARRELLY, LL.D., Barrister-at-Law; Advocate of the Supreme
Court of Cape Colony.
THE AFRICANDER PARTY: ITS ORIGIN, ITS GROWTH, ITS AIMS 38
By the Hon. A. WILMOT, Member of the Legislative Council, Cape Colony;
Author of "History of Our Own Times in South Africa," &c., &c.
RHODESIA: SOME PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 55
By E. F. KNIGHT, Author of "Where Three Empires Meet," "The Cruise of
the _Falcon_," &c.
PROBLEMS AND POSSIBILITIES 72
By JAMES STANLEY LITTLE, Author of "South Africa," "The Progress of
the British Empire in the Nineteenth Century," "The United States of
Britain," &c. &c.
THE FUTURE OF THE MINING INDUSTRY 86
By F. T. NORRIS.
THE AGRICULTURAL OUTLOOK 113
By THE EDITOR.
WOOL-GROWING 133
By ALLEN G. DAVISON, Chief Inspector of Sheep for Cape Colony.
SOUTH AFRICAN RAILWAYS 140
By W. BLELOCH, Author of "The New South Africa."
HEALTH RESORTS OF SOUTH AFRICA 157
By ERNEST GRAHAM LITTLE, B.A., formerly Porter Scholar, of the Cape
University; M.D. University of London; Member of the Royal College
of Physicians; Physician, with charge of the Skin Department, at
St. Mary's Hospital; Senior Assistant Physician to the East London
Hospital for Children and Dispensary for Women, Shadwell; late
House Physician at St. George's Hospital and at the City of London
Hospital for Diseases of the Chest.
COMMERCIAL PROSPECTS 174
By WILLIAM EGLINGTON, Editor and Proprietor of "The British and South
African Export Gazette."
THE FUTURE OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONSTABULARY: VIEWS OF
MAJOR-GENERAL BADEN-POWELL 186
APPENDIX: MR. CHAMBERLAIN AND THE BOER GENERALS 189
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS--VOL. VIII.
COMMERCIAL MAP OF SOUTH AFRICA _At Front_
1. _COLOURED PLATES_
PAGE
A STOCK FARM _Frontispiece_
CHURCH STREET, PRETORIA--THE APPROACH TO THE TOWN 20
AT THE HEAD OF UMGENI FALLS, HOWICK, NATAL 40
THE OUTLET BELOW VICTORIA FALLS, ZAMBESI RIVER 64
LORD MILNER 80
A KAFFIR VILLAGE 120
PEELING BARK ON A WATTLE PLANTATION IN NATAL 132
BLOEMFONTEIN 160
2. _FULL-PAGE PLATES_
THE DOCKS, CAPE TOWN 8
THE LOW VELDT FROM BOTHA'S HILL 48
A HUNTER'S WAGGON, RHODESIA 56
THE RESETTLEMENT OF THE TRANSVAAL--A BOER FAMILY RETURNING TO THEIR
FARM 72
WASHING PLANT OF DE BEERS DIAMOND MINES AT KIMBERLEY 88
CYANIDE WORKS (NEW COMET MINE) AT JOHANNESBURG 92
MINES ON THE LINE OF REEF AT JOHANNESBURG 96
DRIVING AN "END" IN MAY CONSOLIDATED MINE, JOHANNESBURG 100
GENERAL VIEW OF THE SURFACE WORKS OF A RAND GOLD MINE (KNIGHT'S) 104
PRITCHARD STREET, JOHANNESBURG 108
MILL (OR BATTERY) OF A GOLD MINE (SALISBURY AND JUBILEE,
JOHANNESBURG) 112
TEA FARM, SHOWING COOLIES PICKING 124
A SUGAR-MILL IN NATAL (CENTRIFUGAL ROOM) 128
JOHANNESBURG MAIL TRAIN AT THE FOOT OF MAJUBA 144
COMMISSIONER STREET, JOHANNESBURG 148
MORNING MARKET AT JOHANNESBURG 152
MORNING MARKET AT KIMBERLEY 168
CHURCH STREET EAST, PRETORIA 176
3. _PORTRAITS_
SIR HENRY M'CALLUM, K.C.M.G. 12
HON. SIR W. F. HELY HUTCHINSON 16
RIGHT HON. SIR J. GORDON SPRIGG, K.C.M.G. 24
HON. SIR ARTHUR LAWLEY, K.C.M.G. 32
SIR H. J. GOOLD-ADAMS, C.B., C.M.G. 44
THE COLONIAL CONFERENCE 184
4. _MAPS AND ENGRAVINGS IN THE TEXT_
FIVE-MILE SPRUIT, RHODESIA 56
CAPE TO CAIRO RAILWAY 58
RHODESIAN NATIVES WASHING CLOTHES 63
MACHECKIE RAILWAY BRIDGE 65
THE WANKIE EXPEDITION 68
RHODESIAN MINING--THE DOBIE MILL 70
PROSPECTING FOR GOLD 87
THE INFANCY OF A GOLD MINE 90
SECTION OF A GOLD MINE 93
HEAD-GEAR OF THE WITWATERSRAND GOLD-MINING CO. 100
KAFFIR COMPOUND 102
CYANIDE WORKS 104
GENERAL VIEW OF SURFACE WORKS 106
MAP--TRANSVAAL GOLD-FIELDS 109
MAP--RHODESIAN GOLD-FIELDS 111
WELLWOOD FARM 114
FARM IN THE KARROO PROPER 118
VERMONT MERINO EWES 122
PURE NEGRETTI MERINO RAM 126
ANGORA GOAT (YOUNG EWE) 130
FLOCK OF FAT CROSS-BRED MERINO AND FAT-TAILED SHEEP 133
ANGORA GOATS (YOUNG RAMS) 135
FAT-TAILED HAIRY AFRICANDER SHEEP 136
ANGORA GOAT (RAM) 138
BRIDGE OVER THE TUGELA 142
STATION YARD, DURBAN 146
MAP OF CAPE GOVERNMENT RAILWAY 152, 3
MAP--BRITAIN IN AFRICA 199
[Illustration: COMMERCIAL MAP OF SOUTH AFRICA]
SOUTH AFRICA AND ITS FUTURE
EMIGRATION
BY HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF ARGYLL, P.C., K.T.
_Author of "Imperial Federation," "The Life and Times of Queen
Victoria," &c._
Emigration of white men and women to South Africa--how can we best
secure this? The abiding difficulty at the Cape and throughout the
states that will form the future South African Confederation is the
colour question. The "colour" is not that of the gold to be found so
often in many places, but the question of the white and the black races
dwelling in the same country.
Dutchman and Englishman will in time form one race. There is nothing to
part them. They are European cousins. They both come from North Europe.
The blood of the Dutchman runs in the veins of the Englishman. The
parent stock of the Dutch gave off many a swarm wherewith to people the
East Anglian shores. England has been fed and fought by the Dutch since
those old days. We have received many of their sturdy countrymen into
London. Any one who does not know the number and influence of the Dutch
in comparatively recent times in our metropolis should pay a visit to
the Austen Friars, the place where the monks of St. Augustine had their
headquarters in the city, and see the fine old church the Dutch built,
and in which they still worship. We remember well the stiff battles of
Charles II.'s time. We know the names of Van Tromp and De Witt as well
as any Dutchman. We have learned to respect our Dutch cousins, both on
sea and land.
And their religion? There is nothing there to separate us. Has the
Presbyterian form of religion kept Scotland separate? No, save in the
pride of her ancient history. No Scotsman has any objection to marry an
English lass, especially if she has herself more than will give both of
them something better than oatcake. And the Dutch Reformed Church is
much like the Presbyterian. There is nothing that can in its tenets
form any bar to the mixing of the British and Dutch people in South
Africa. To be sure, a "nacht-maal" is not precisely a Church of England
convocation or congress. It approaches much nearer to a Scottish
communion service in out-of-the-way Highland parishes. There is nothing
aggressive or exclusive in the staid and sober faith of our Dutch
friends. And this being so, Scotsmen especially have intermarried often
with the Boers.
As trustee of a Highland estate, some time ago my consent was asked to
the granting of a leasehold to a Scottish gentleman, who had returned
from the Transvaal. The only objection the lawyer who asked the question
mentioned as existing against this man was that he was said to have
married a native. Some canny objectors had written a letter saying that
this ought to form a bar to any grant of land to the man, though he had
originally come from the district. Who was the lady? was the next
inquiry. Was she a Hottentot Venus? Did she "bang her hair" in too
negroid a fashion? Would she introduce among the dim lights of the North
the terrible practices of her people? Would the quiet village be
scandalised by strange feasts and weird howlings? No, by no means. What
was she, then? Why, nothing but a nice flaxen-haired, rather
squab-featured, but withal comely Boer girl! So she entered into her
Highland possession, had a door "stoop," or something like a bit of
raised verandah flooring put outside the entrance, but found, poor soul,
that it was rather a dripping place of observation in her adopted
climate. Nevertheless, the last news of her is that she is a happy,
"sonsie" mother, and has some children, who don't speak Dutch as their
common language, but only a few low Dutch words, with very Highland
accent.
But this is said to be only the case where a Scotsman marries a Boer.
There is apparently something in the Scot that makes him look after his
family more carefully than does the average Englishman or Irishman. It
is therefore only the Scot, as it is said, both in Africa and in Canada,
whose children, if he marry one of another race, do not desert the
accents of their forefathers on the paternal side. As a rule the
children become much what the mother is. I have seen the children of a
naval man who had married an Indian woman on the Pacific Coast become
almost like the small fish-eating savages around them. They were willing
to do a little work for a spurt, and then relapsed into dirt and
laziness. So in the north-west of Canada it is only an Orkney or
Aberdeen east-coast Scot who can keep his family to civilised life, if
he marry a Cree or member of any other Indian tribe. The Frenchman's
children, by an Indian mother, take to hunting only. Even with the Scots
in Old Canada the same rule holds good, at least wherever a Celt has
married a French Canadian. There are numbers of families below Quebec,
on the north side of the river St. Lawrence, whose names are Highland.
They are the descendants chiefly of Fraser's Highlanders, one of the
regiments employed during the war against the French in 1748-49. When
the soldiers obtained grants of land on the conclusion of the war they
married French-Canadian women. Their descendants now can seldom speak
one word of English or of Gaelic. They speak nothing but Canadian French
patois. It is the mother's influence, with rare exceptions, that tells.
So it is in South Africa. In some districts it is as with Fraser's
Highlanders, in Province Quebec. You may visit farm after farm,
especially those whose owners have Irish names, and you will not find
any person in the house, or on the land belonging to the farm, who can
speak a word of either English or Irish! It may be doubted if there
would have been much loyalty taught to any government by the use of the
Erse tongue. The "Taal" may inculcate a certain amount more of respect
for paternal and government authority. Yet if theory distinguishes
between Briton and Boer, or Englishman and Africander, Nature does not,
and you find that the mingling of the races is a practical principle
acted on regularly wherever the races are brought together. We may
congratulate ourselves that this is so. The mixed race will be a
magnificent one, with the size, courage, and tenacity of the Dutch, and
the gentleness, bravery, and power of government and of cohesion of the
Britisher. There are no handsomer women anywhere than there are among
the Dutch ladies of Cape Colony. Many of their sons are sent to English
public schools and universities, and though there are, alas, only too
many who live under British institutions and who do not become British,
there is no reason why, in course of time, they should not become as
good citizens of a British Commonwealth as have the Vanderbilts and Van
Horns and Roosevelts, and many others of Dutch name and lineage in New
York State, for New York was New Amsterdam, and a very flourishing Dutch
colony. On the banks of the Hudson you may still see thoroughly Dutch
houses, built in the old days. What New Yorker would now change his
nationality, though of Dutch descent? The freedom they have in the
United States their cousins will also have in South Africa. They will
mix with the English, whose language most of them speak already. They
will do so all the more readily as time passes, in that they can never
feel themselves to be anything but the equals of the British in all save
in numbers.
It was for the benefit of the union between England and Scotland that
the Scots won Bannockburn and many another hard fight besides. They
could point to their victories as the English could to theirs. And so
with those of Dutch race at the Cape. They can point to famous names of
good soldiers, who have inflicted defeat on the best British troops. And
for this they will be all the greater friends hereafter. Unless each
partner in business or in marriage can bring something into the common
pot, there is not so happy a sense of helpfulness and mutual aid given,
as there is when this union is a more equal one. There is another and a
most weighty consideration which will tend to the union of the European
races. This is the common necessity each has to strengthen the other
against any possible predominance of the blacks. The danger in this
matter will arise more in the warmer regions of the north of the future
confederation than in the more temperate south. Time has proved that the
white races can do well in the Cape. They increase rapidly. The climate
is most favourable. The physical character of the races does not in any
way deteriorate. On the contrary, it improves. They gain, as the
Americans say, in "avoirdupois." An "avoirdupois" Dutchman at the Cape,
whose ancestors have been "avoirdupoising" there for two centuries, is a
better all-round, and very round man, than is his compatriot in race at
home among the canals and tulip gardens of Holland. But the black holds
his own in weight and in numbers even in the temperate climate of the
Cape Colony. Farther north, where the temperature is hotter, it is
certain that he will be a better man than the white. The only exception
to this can be in the mountain districts, where at high elevations in
the plateaus there is probably a possibility that the white man's
children may thrive. In general, however, in all the low ground north of
the Transvaal, and in many districts there, the "Kaffir" will be more
favoured by the climate than will be the white invader. The Europeans
will partially subject them, and partially they will remain,
deteriorated in morals, but by no means likely to remain only the
obedient servants that they are expected to be. There are many who now
say that the next big trouble in South Africa will be with the blacks.
This apprehension, if there be any reason in it, is another incentive
for the whites to combine to make settlements secure and numerous, where
they can defy any movement among the blacks. It is an additional
incentive to us in the old land to see what we may do to make this union
of the whites as British in feeling, as liberty loving, as British
institutions can make it. The Boers in fighting have not lost their
freedom. They have only lost one form of collective and separate
independence. Individually their independence is far better guaranteed
under British than under Dutch Africander forms of government.
But a great help to their seeing and understanding of this will be the
predominance, not the domination, of the English language. In the
schools English history and its modern expansion in the colonies should
be taught. Half of the dislike of England shown in the Republic and
among the people in the United States arises from the teaching of the
school-books, which indoctrinates the young American with the idea that
as all tyranny known to his American fathers was centralised and
expressed in Lord North's Stamp Act and the Tea Duties, so the modern
Britisher must still be imbued with the ideas of Lord North, and
taxation without representation must go hand in hand with British rule.
The young Africander must be taught that we of the old country have
learned our lesson. He must know that each of the British self-governing
colonies is a separate nation in alliance of its own free will with the
mother-land. He must know that even in the wildest dreams of
Africanderism the most separatist of the separatists desired the naval
stations of the Cape to remain one of the chief resorts of the British
fleet. Now that Germany and France have their foot on South African
soil, "marching" with the states of the new confederation to be, the
youth of the states must be taught to know our forms of government and
the history of them, so that they may judge if they would rather be
under the German or French flag. To be under any separate new flag would
of course be to court danger from the powerful countries, who could cut
off their trade from the harbours, were it not for the protection
afforded by the British fleets. Union and education are therefore the
passwords to success.
How can we better help these forces than by well-devised emigration? Our
Dutch friends have given us a good example. They imported in the
eighteenth century 5000 children from Amsterdam. They knew what they
were about. That was at a time when horses were sent round in a ring to
tread corn, that the labour of threshing it might be saved. It was a
time when, near the outlying settlements to which the children were
sent, there were lions and elephants to be met with--real live
animals--recognisable by the Noah's ark toys of the children, whose
delight at the sight of the creatures was not always shared by their
parents! How different is all now! For thousands of miles, up and down
the country, life is as safe as in most parishes in England. The only
thing to fear is probably an enraged ostrich, and these can easily, even
on an ostrich farm where the huge birds are reared for their feathers,
be kept out of the children's way. The little ones had a long time of it
on board ship, three months in some cases; and glad they must have been
to see the coast-line rising as they neared the Bay, and the long flat
top of the precipitous Table Mountain, with a white wreath of mist
looking like snow against the delicate blue of the sky, on its rocky
summit level. They were not all kept in the white town at the base of
the beautiful mountain whose ever-changing hues were a delight to them.
The children were wisely distributed, that they might take a liking to
the place where they were trained, and should have a feeling of home
love for the part of the country they would know while yet young. And so
it should be done by us in these later times when we have more need of
the spread of our own tongue and traditions in this great land. Careful
location is indeed necessary, but there are so many good locations,
especially along the south coast, that we need not be too timid or too
dilatory. Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, two good bays to the northward to
which railways must ultimately come--more settlements again along the
coast in temperate regions to the east, are wanted, where latitude 34
shows that no great heat can be feared--these are the "plums" for
position. And when you turn the corner of that long stretch of coast
lying along latitude 34, you must look out for higher sites than those
on the sea-beach for the young people. And of these higher sites there
are plenty. If Durban be too relaxing there is Pietermaritzburg inland,
and so of most of the ports and bays. Leaving the coast and going inland
by the railways into the "Orange" and Transvaal, we at once meet the
main difficulty of "location" in the want of water. The Transvaal seems
like a gigantic turtle-back, and whereas in Australia you may meet with
water if you dig 1500 feet or more, where there is no appearance of it
on the surface, we must wait for such revelations in the Transvaal. The
territories are fed by few good rivers, and these are apt to be either
raging torrents or dry gravel beds. But there are "fonteins" in many
places, and there is no reason why a fair sprinkling of girls' and boys'
institutions should not be comfortably located both in Transvaal and
"Orange," where along the river of that name there is a more certain
supply of water. The Vaal is of course the largest stream for irrigation
in the north. Very little has been done to husband the water of any of
the African rivers; and the chief work to be done in matters of material
improvement is the adequate damming and storing of the waters of all the
principal streams. The winter floods, copious and overwhelming, have
been allowed to run to waste. Water and wives must for a long time be
the chief wants of South Africa.
Lucas gives briefly the main features of the country now under our flag.
From the south coast to the Zambesi in the neighbourhood of the Victoria
Falls is 1200 miles. The land rises steadily from the sea as you get
into the Hinterlands, and the mountain ranges run parallel to the sea.
Behind these ranges there is everywhere an elevated plateau, and the
highest plains are in the east. There also the rainfall is the
greatest. "It is from the south or east that men come into Southern
Africa, not from the west, where stretch the dreary deserts of Damara
and Namaqua Land." North of the Karoo Desert the principal places are
well situated for altitude. To the west Kimberley is 4000 feet above the
sea. Bloemfontein, the capital of the Orange State, is higher by 500
feet than is Kimberley. Mafeking has 4200 feet. Pretoria, the capital of
the Transvaal, is the same as Bloemfontein. Johannesburg, though so near
Pretoria, stands at 5600 feet. In the north, Matebele Land has an
average of 2500 feet. It is possible that deep borings may find water in
the new states where there is none at present. These heights are
sufficient to explain how it is that even far to the north of Cape
Colony European settlement may thrive, and children grow up strong and
healthy. But "location" is everything.
Now, what has been done to foster immigration and settlement up to the
present? Hardly anything has been done by Government. Sir Harry Smith,
who commanded in the fiercest of the Kaffir wars, and after whose wife
Ladysmith received its name, strongly urged the policy of settling
soldiers in the Colony. Between the Fish and the Keiskamma rivers
"military villages" were encouraged, the settlers "being army pensioners
liable to be called on for the defence of the frontier." Then again in
the Queenstown district Governor-General Cathcart proposed to settle two
Swiss Regiments, but his plan was not supported. Then Sir George Grey,
his successor, persuaded the home Government to send out 2300 of the
Foreign Legion, as it was called, recruited for the Crimean War. They
were to be called on for military service, if wanted, during a period of
seven years, and they were to have pay for three years. Each man
received his land free of rent, to become his own at the end of the
seven years, if he had loyally fulfilled his engagements. The Government
of the Cape helped by a grant of money. "At the beginning of 1857," says
Lucas in his _Geography of the British Colonies_, "the German soldiers
arrived and were settled, some at existing towns or stations, such as
East London and King William's Town, some on selected sites, whose
villages were yet to be built. Distributed through the eastern districts
of the Colony, and through British Kaffraria, they held the lines of
communication, as garrisons attached to, and having an interest in the
soil. The divisional district of Stutterheim still bears the name of the
officer in whose charge the soldiers came, and under whose immediate
guidance they were settled on the land. The chief drawback _to the
scheme was that only a few of the emigrants brought wives with them_.
This defect Sir George Grey sought to remedy by proposing to import a
number of German families to be located with and to supplement the
military settlers. Some were brought over, but the total expenditure
which was contemplated was too large to win the assent of the Imperial
Government, and to subsidise an exclusively German immigration, seemed
to the Secretaries of State less politic than to provide the existing
German settlers with English or Irish wives. The Governor therefore sent
on a thousand of the unmarried soldiers to India, and those who
remained behind developed into Cape Colonists, and fell into line with
the civil population."
This experiment has succeeded so well that it is a wonder that it was
not repeated. Considering the enormous disproportion in the old country
between the number of men and the number of women, it would seem a
comparatively simple matter to assist female emigration, especially when
a Colony is young and able to absorb any number sent. Nor need any
Colonial Government Department be alarmed that the worthless will be
sent. There are plenty of useful and excellent women who would be glad
to go. As yet the only woman contingents that have been sent out are the
few dozen teachers who have proceeded to the concentration camps. A
party of these hailing from Toronto and Ottawa were lately in England on
their journey to the Cape. Every one who met these ladies was struck
with the earnestness they showed and the ability they displayed in
conversing on the subject of their hopes and expectations. They seemed a
lot drafted from the best women instructresses in some New England
State. But Ontario can well afford now to be compared with the best of
the New England States in regard to her public instruction. Her schools
of all kinds are excellent. A "send off" meeting was held in the
Jerusalem Chamber at Westminster Abbey for a party of fifty. They were
addressed by Mr. Chamberlain and Lord Peel. Now that peace has come and
the camps will have been broken up, these women will doubtless find
equally useful employment under the Education Department in the New
Colonies. The Government here have a large "reservoir" to draw upon in
the women who are employed in the telegraph and postal service in Great
Britain. Any of these persons would immediately find a sphere of
activity in the new lands. The population of these countries is certain
to increase rapidly with the opening of the old mines and the successful
exploitation of new. There are large centres of industry where there is
no want of water, where there is a certainty of good mining success, and
where communities will grow up anxious for good schools, and well able
to pay for instructors and instructresses.
[Illustration: Photo: Wilson, Aberdeen.
THE DOCKS, CAPE TOWN.]
It is a curious thing that while at the Cape and elsewhere you find in
the hotels plenty of Swiss and German and some French waitresses and
housemaids, you find few English. Why? It must be only from want of
organisation. At Grahamstown, not far from the bay called Algoa by the
Portuguese (whose thoughts went to Goa in India, and named Algoa and
Delagoa as calling places for Goa ships) there has been an institution
for instruction lately founded. Let me cite here the work of the South
African Expansion Committee in their own words.
This Association is established to promote Protected
Emigration, due regard being had to the interests both of the
Emigrants and of the countries to which they go.
The Association pledges itself:--
(_a_) To Emigrate only such Women and Girls as are of good
character and capacity.
(_b_) To select only such Men and Families as are suitable to
the requirements of each Colony.
(_c_) To secure for them proper Protection on the voyage, and
adequate Reception on arrival.
(_d_) If possible, not to lose sight of them for a year or two
after their Emigration.
(_e_) To raise a Loan Fund for necessitous cases, repayment
being secured on detained wages.
It is recognised by prominent statesmen of all parties that the
future of our South African possessions depends on their
colonisation--not only by the large bodies of active and
energetic men, who at the close of the war will find permanent
employment there--but also by trained and capable women. Many
situations and professions are already awaiting them, and as
the country becomes more settled, fresh openings of all sorts
will arise.
Women of proved suitability are prepared to go, when the right
time comes, but a great barrier to all extensive development of
this essential movement is lack of funds.
Financial support is needed for the following purposes:--
(1) The establishment, on sound business principles, of Hostels
at Cape Town[1] and at the chief centres, such as Durban,
Pretoria, Kimberley, Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, Bulawayo,
Salisbury, &c., where women and girls can be received for a
few days on arrival, and where, if they have daily
engagements, they may reside permanently. Each of these
Hostels would be also an employment Bureau for every kind
of women's work, and would require a capable salaried Lady
Superintendent to manage the Home and the Employment
Bureau, and to act as correspondent between Employer and
Employed.
(2) Provision for the proper care and guidance of women
throughout the journey from the British Isles to their final
destination in South Africa.
(3) Grants in aid of passages from the British Isles to South
Africa when the traveller cannot afford the whole cost, or
loans to be repaid within a given period.
(4) Preparation of women at the Leaton Colonial Training Home,
Wellington, Salop.
(5) Secretarial Expenses.
British men and women must alike desire for our new
territories, and for South Africa generally, the same ordered,
wholesome, law-abiding traditions as are to be found in the Old
Country; and these can only be built up on a lasting basis, by
rendering life possible there as here for suitable women,
whether as teachers, nurses, secretaries, typists, telegraph or
telephone clerks, sempstresses, or household assistants.
We would appeal for funds not only to help those who go to earn
their daily bread, but also to enable the wives, the daughters,
and sisters of settlers to join their belongings in the new
country. Many a man could make a home for his wife or sister
but for the initial cost of her passage and the difficulties of
the journey for inexperienced women. Openings in the new
territories are declined by men at the front, because they
cannot bring out those dependent upon them at home. They need
that the ocean be bridged for them by kindly forethought, by
experienced and economical organisation, by suitable
protection, and by carefully adjusted financial assistance.
It is surely not much to ask that those to whom domestic
comfort is a matter of course, should contribute in these ways
to make a home life possible for those upon whom the future of
South Africa depends.
The Lady Knightley, of Fawsley, in regard to the preparation
for women going to South Africa, says:--
"In laying before the public the scheme for assisting the
emigration of women of all classes to South Africa, the Council
are specially anxious to enlist the active co-operation of
ladies in all parts of the country, and with a view to securing
this assistance, they desire to draw the attention, of those
who may be disposed to help, to various methods of forwarding
the scheme, in the hope that some one or other of them may
prove feasible.
"Ladies could insure that those desiring to emigrate should
have the opportunity of fitting themselves for their new life
by helping to provide instruction for them in various
departments of practical life.
"1. Cooking, Dairying, Poultry-keeping.
"2. Breadmaking, Laundry-work.
"3. Needlework, Cutting out.
"4. Gardening, Fruit-packing, Bee-keeping.
"5. Ambulance, Nursing, Health teaching.
"In some parts of the country this will be best accomplished by
arranging for attendance at County Council Classes for
Technical Instruction, or by putting people in the way of
gaining the Scholarships which some County Councils provide for
dairying, others for nursing, &c. In other districts, where
such Classes or Scholarships are not provided by the County
Council, or where the Classes are inconvenient of access, it
might be arranged for such instruction to be given in a country
house. Good, old-fashioned, upper servants, of whom there are
some left, might in some cases be glad to help in this way.
"An even better plan would be to arrange for girls and young
women (especially those from towns) to pass a month or two in a
farmhouse, where, under a capable farmer's wife, much of the
required teaching would come naturally in the routine of the
household. In this way a foundation might be laid which would
render the traveller of far greater use on her first arrival
in South Africa than would otherwise be the case, and also more
able to acquire further knowledge should she obtain a situation
on a poultry or other farm.
"The improved methods of poultry-keeping inaugurated by the
National Poultry Organisation, 12 Hanover Square, should, if
possible, be studied. Ladies might supply intending travellers
with copies of its valuable leaflets.
"Some knowledge of gardening should be acquired, preferably
through the medium of the Swanley Ladies' Horticultural
College. But should this prove too long and expensive a
training, a good deal might be learnt from a head gardener if
ladies would make it easy for such instruction to be given. The
best methods of packing fruit should also be acquired, and in
towns, ladies who are large customers of fruit salesmen might
make interest with them for giving instruction.
"Ladies who are Members of County Bee-keeping Associations
might be able to obtain for intending Emigrants some
instruction from the Expert usually attached to such
Associations. Mr. Theodore Bent has pointed out that in a
country where wild bees do so well as they do in South Africa,
tame bees ought to succeed, and as butter at present is
somewhat scarce, honey might become a valuable article of food.
The same remark applies to jam, and jam-making should be
included in the subjects to be taught.
"If possible, intending travellers should attend some
ambulance, health, and nursing lectures, which would prove a
valuable possession in their future lives. Of course, such
instruction would be a good deal better than nothing, but
regular Ambulance Lectures, with an Examination to follow,
would be far better, and in many instances ladies could use
their influence in the country in getting such lectures
arranged, not of course specially for Emigrants, but to give
them the opportunity of attending. They might also, in some
cases, pay the necessary fees. There are many ladies,
especially among the younger ones, who have acquired a
considerable knowledge of nursing, and who might do invaluable
service by imparting to intending emigrants some acquaintance
with, at all events, such rudiments of nursing as are comprised
in changing sheets, improvised cradles, bed rests, and the
hundred and one little dodges--if they may be so termed--which
make the whole difference in illness, and which so many people
are utterly ignorant of.
"It is hoped that it may be found possible for nurses to go out
on the same ships with parties of emigrants, with a view to
their giving nursing and ambulance lectures on the voyage.
"Ladies may also help by contributing to the libraries for use
on board ship and at the Hostels, which it is intended to
establish for the reception of emigrants on their arrival at
Cape Town, and also in other South African Centres.
"Another form of assistance would be to undertake to pay for
the instruction of emigrants in South African languages. Miss
Alice Werner (20 Dry Hill, Park Road, Tonbridge) is holding
classes for the study of the Zulu language, and also for Taal
or Cape Dutch, at King's College, Strand. Besides these, she is
prepared to give lessons in some of the languages spoken in
British Central Africa.
"Clothes are not unfrequently needed for intending emigrants.
Working parties could be organised to provide new
underclothing, which could also be purchased from institutions
and bazaars. These working parties would also furnish a
valuable opportunity for making known the scheme among the
daughters of the farmers and tradesmen, who are just the class
most likely to prove desirable denizens of the new Colonies.
"Useful but fashionable slightly-used clothes for middle-class
women might also be collected.
"Ladies with friends in South Africa may also give valuable
assistance by writing to tell them of the scheme, being careful
to enclose a prospectus issued by the Association, so that
there may be no mistake as to terms, conditions, &c. Ladies in
Cape Town should be asked to confer with Mrs. Bairnsfather,
Grange Avenue, Rondebosch, Cape Town, and with the Committee
which has recently been formed.
"It should be known to all who are kindly willing to interest
themselves in this undertaking that a Colonial Training Home
has been established at Leaton, Wrockwardine, Wellington,
Salop, the object of which is to give practical training in
domestic work to ladies and girls wishing to proceed to the
Colonies, to join their families or as Mothers' Helps. The
training given is of the most thorough description, and no
servants being kept, the pupils do all the work of the house.
The course lasts for three or six months, and the terms are
15s. weekly for a single bedroom, 10s. for sharing a double
one. But as only twelve pupils can be received at a time, it
will be impossible by this means only, to train the many girls
who, it is hoped, will be willing and anxious to avail
themselves of the advantages offered by this scheme; and
therefore it is that the Council confidently appeal for help on
the simple but practicable lines indicated in the foregoing
pages."
In application to the British Women's Emigration Association (South
African Expansion), replies to the following questions have to be
forwarded to the Hon. Secretary, South African Expansion, Imperial
Institute, London, S. W.:--
1. Christian and Surname in full; Postal Address in full.
2. Date and Place of Birth; Religious Denomination.
3. (_a_) Parents or near relative living; (_b_) Home Address;
(_c_) Father's Profession.
4. To which Colony do you wish to go?
5. Have you friends or relatives there with whom you are in
correspondence? if so, give name and address.
6. What line of life do you propose to pursue in that Colony?
7. Have you hitherto had any experience in practical work?
8. Do you propose--(_a_) to invest capital? (_b_) to seek
employment in (1) Poultry, Fruit, Vegetable Farming or
Dairy? (2) Business, Boarding-house, Tea-shop, Dressmaking,
Photography, &c.
9. If from a Colonial or other Training Home, give address.
10. Is your health good? (a Medical Certificate will be
required); when were you last vaccinated?
11. Can you meet your travelling expenses, or are you likely to
require a small loan?
12. Three references are required. Give name and address if
possible of--(_a_) Minister of Religion or Justice of the
Peace; (_b_) two ladies or other responsible persons.
13. Space to be left blank for Referee's signature.
14. Length of time Referee has known Applicant.
The ordinary ocean fares are as follow:--
Union-Castle Line, from Southampton.
_Second Class._ _Mail Steamer._ _Intermediate._
Cape Town 25 to 29 guineas 23 to 26 guineas.
Port Elizabeth 17 to 31 " 24 to 28 "
East London 28 to 32 " 25 to 29 "
Natal 29 to 33 " 26 to 30 "
_Third Class._ _Mail Steamer._ _Intermediate._
Cape Town 15 to 17 guineas 12 to 14 guineas.
Port Elizabeth 16 to 18 " 13 to 15 "
East London 17 to 19 " 14 to 16 "
Natal 18 to 20 " 15 to 17 "
Aberdeen (Rennie) Line, direct from London.
Natal, First Class, £34 13s.; Second Class, £21.
Beira, " £40 19s.; " £26.
Intermediate Steamers carrying First Class only.
Natal, £25, 4s. Beira, £34.
Shaw Savill Line to Cape Town only, from London--
Third Class, £9, 9s. to £11, 11s. No Second Class.
Also White Star Line to Cape Town occasionally, from Liverpool.
Luggage allowed free; 20 cubic feet second class; 10 cubic feet
third class, extra at 1s. 6d. per foot. By Aberdeen Line, 40
feet first class; 30 feet intermediate.
At the present time there are no assisted passages to Cape
Colony. When these are granted, they enable an employer to
obtain an employee by paying to the Immigration Office at Cape
Town a portion of the passage money, the Government of Cape
Colony paying the remainder. Women availing themselves of the
advantage of a practically free passage are obliged to sign a
contract, which is legally binding, to remain one year or
longer, according to the agreement made with the employer.
NATAL.--Persons resident in Natal can obtain third class
assisted passages from their female relatives and domestic
servants through the Immigration Department in the Colony.
Adults, £5; children, half-price.
Persons travelling under the auspices of the Association are
grouped in reserved cabins under an escort. When larger parties
are collected they will have the comfort of travelling with an
experienced matron, whose authority they will be expected to
uphold.
Hostels and Employment Bureaux are established for receiving
travellers and for Registry Work at Cape Town, Johannesburg,
and Salisbury. Reception and forwarding arranged at all
seaports.
Employment for Elementary and High School Teachers, Trained
Nurses, Typists, Dressmakers and Milliners, Useful Helps,
Matrons, Business Hands, and Laundresses, can be obtained
through the Correspondents of the Association.
In Cape Colony and the larger towns of South Africa, the
openings will be chiefly for all-round Domestics, and women in
Professions and Business; up the country in the New
Territories, for women who as Working Housekeepers can utilise
native labour. Teachers will be wanted in all the Provinces.
Employees will be sent out as soon as employers apply for them
and Government Authorities consent. Women who intend to settle
up-country should meanwhile perfect themselves in cooking and
all household matters, adding a knowledge of dairy work,
poultry, and bee-keeping.
Travellers going through the Association who have to sleep in
London, can be received at 3s. 6d. per day. Three days' notice
must be given.
Only women of good character, health, and capability, are
accepted by the South African Expansion Committee, in whose
hands the selection of women to South Africa has been placed.
Protection is secured to them till they enter the situations
found for them in the Colonies.
[Illustration: Photo: Elliott & Fry, London.
SIR HENRY M'CALLUM, K.C.M.G.
Governor of Natal.]
But fully as important as the emigration of adults will be the placing
of children in well-selected places in South Africa. The object to be
attained is to let children grow up in the country so that they may
regard it as their own, and that their early home affection may be
largely connected with their adopted land. The difficulty of the
selection of children is as nothing compared with the difficulty of the
selection of adults. Nor are the objections often raised in a new
community against the importation of the last, heard against the first.
A wide experience has shown that children are eagerly sought by farmers,
and are "placed out" with ease. The remarkable success Dr. Barnardo has
had in Canada, to which country he has sent between twelve and thirteen
thousand children, has proved this. The number of failures has been only
about 1 per cent. Nor is this a haphazard statement. Watch and ward have
been kept over the fortunes of the youngsters. They have been carefully
placed after due negotiation and correspondence, and each has been
reported upon after settlement. The success obtained is best gauged by
the ever-increasing number of applications for just such boys and girls
as have been previously "located." Every year of late years there have
been three great parties sent across the Atlantic, and the cry is ever
for more to come. In spring, in midsummer, and in "the fall," the
children have been taken out. Entrained on arriving in Canada, the
farmers have come down to meet them at the various stations, and they
have been at once taken to their new homes, where they have almost
uniformly given satisfaction to their employers. They are growing up
hearty, happy Canadians, and many hundred letters arrive from them at
Stepney where they were trained, telling how they are "getting on."
Every penny spent on their teaching in England has had a double return
in making room when they go for another boy or girl to be similarly
brought up, and in providing Canada and Britain with a small citizen
"cut out of whole cloth," as the Americans say, ready to fight for the
Empire whether in Canada, in Europe, or in Africa.
Now though the East End philanthropist has the greatest number from
which to draw his recruits, he does not stand alone. There is Mr.
Quarrier, near Alloa in Scotland, who is doing similar work. In London
no child who knocks at the door of the many institutions is refused.
Each is admitted, and the change in a year is marvellous. The child has
already become a good little mechanic or workman of some kind or other.
He is cleanly, disciplined, and has many an example ahead of him and
around him, to make him follow in the good road on which he has been
set. In London £5000 is now asked for by Dr. Barnardo for the African
scheme. The greatest care is to be taken to watch over the children sent
out. They are to be carefully placed where climate and water is good,
and there, after a course of instruction in all that is most useful in
South Africa, they will be placed out as in Canada with farmers, with
miners, with mechanics, and with any who want them, if the employers can
only show that a good home is provided. But until a good home is
provided by the Colonists, they are to have a good home out there of
their own. There are opportunities of education in the local farming
pursuits that "make the mouth water," to have children thus placed. The
pastoral work of dairying, as well as the healthy occupations of
gardening and produce-raising will all be studied and taught on the
spot. What a happy change from the crowded thoroughfares of the east of
London! And if these children succeed, as they assuredly will, why
should not the Government do a little useful work of the same kind as
that undertaken by Dr. Barnardo and by Mr. Quarrier on its own account?
Why not utilise for Africa some of the industrial school children? They,
if settled together, and sent to English-speaking farmers, will not
forget that they are English. They will not make their farms when they
get them, after their useful school career, resound only with the
expressive but illiterate "Taal" tongue. Good Saxon (even if shorn of a
few h's) will be heard in their homesteads in the future. They will add
a good reinforcement to those who know that freedom is not to be got by
racial separation, and the condemnation of everything British. They will
permeate the districts where they grow up to manhood and womanhood with
the British idea and practice of common obedience to law and justice as
the best security for freedom.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The generosity of Mr. Rhodes and of the De Beers Company has made it
possible to the influential South African Immigration Committee which
has been formed at Cape Town to open a Hostel there already.
SOUTH AFRICAN FEDERATION
VIEWS OF COLONIAL PREMIERS
BY E. B. OSBORN
_Author of "Greater Canada"_
I
Unification has always been an ideal of South African statesmen, and
twice, at least, it has been within measurable distance of realisation.
In 1858 Sir George Grey, who had federated the New Zealand settlements
despite the intensity of their local jealousies, promulgated the first
practical scheme of South African Federation. So well had he ruled the
Kaffir tribes on the eastern border of Cape Colony, that the Free State,
weary of warfare with the Basutos, made overtures for a federal
alliance, and the proposition of the Volksraad was actually laid before
the Cape Parliament by Sir George Grey, before the opinion of the
British Ministry in regard to his scheme of federation on New Zealand
lines and their sanction for the course actually pursued had been
received. Sir George Grey was recalled; though on his arrival off the
British coast he found that he had been reinstated by a new Secretary of
State, the delay led to the loss of an excellent opportunity for
carrying through a measure comparable in importance with the Act which
brought about the legislative union of Upper and Lower Canada.
[Illustration: Photo: Elliott & Fry, London.
HON. SIR W. F. HELY HUTCHINSON,
Governor of Cape Colony.]
For many years after the failure of Sir George Grey's attempt,
unification was a little-regarded counsel of perfection. It is true that
the Duke of Buckingham, Secretary of State for the Colonies in the
Disraeli Ministry of 1868, admitted that it would be politic to consider
seriously any further overtures for a federal alliance from the Boers,
but the Free State was no longer in the mood to make them, our
annexation of Basutoland being resented, and the discovery of diamonds
on its western border in 1867 having created fresh causes of irritation.
When the second Disraeli Ministry came into power, and Lord Carnarvon,
who had collaborated with the Canadian Fathers of Federation (he himself
may be described as the Godfather of the Dominion), undertook the charge
of colonial affairs, the plan proposed by Sir Henry Barkly for a
confederation of South Africa, which should be the logical
consequence of the grant of autonomy to Cape Colony, was cordially
received. Unfortunately the Free State held aloof, the Cape Ministry
remembered only too well the object lessons in anti-Imperialism received
from Lord Carnarvon's predecessors, and a _grain de sable_--the
tactlessness of Mr. Froude--caused a vast amount of friction. Even then,
but for the revival at home of the belief that political quietism and a
policy of non-interference with Colonial affairs would enable Great
Britain to retain the commercial hegemony of the world, Lord Carnarvon's
hopes might have been realised; for he had grasped the all-important
fact that South Africa was, and must always remain, a single-minded
community, whenever the native question was discussed, and that this
unity of opinion was a stronger motive for unification than any or all
of those political or commercial considerations which had already led to
the making of the Dominion, and seemed certain, sooner or later, to
bring about the federation of the Australian Colonies.
In more recent years three men of commanding influence have, each in his
own way, attempted to realise the ideal of unity. Mr. Kruger's attempt
to lay the foundation of a Dutch confederacy, the future greatness of
which would have been based (can we doubt it?) on some form of slavery,
may be dismissed as an instance of the adage, _corruptio optimi
pessima_. Mr. Cecil Rhodes worked for a federation on the model of the
United States; since the Cape was half Dutch, the Transvaal was to be
made half British, and the settlement of Rhodesia was to insure the
preponderance of Imperial ideas in the Union of the future. He saw that
the Boers must be persuaded to co-operate, and for that reason he allied
himself to Mr. Hofmeyr, the unofficial leader of the Boer party in Cape
Colony, who also had his federal scheme. Had the two Boer leaders agreed
to work loyally together in their disloyalty, it is conceivable that
they might have brought about an act of federation in the Boer interest,
and have constitutionally demanded from Great Britain the removal of her
garrisons from South Africa, a naval station at Simon's Bay being
conceded in order to retain the essential measure of Imperial
protection. Such, at any rate, seems to have been Mr. Hofmeyr's dream.
But, instead of being content to widen and deepen the influence of the
Afrikander Bond until such time as the term "suzerainty" should have
been interpreted by the heirs to Mr. Gladstone's South African policy,
Mr. Kruger decided to make use of his hoarded armaments, and the future
of his great raid involved the failure of Mr. Hofmeyr's long-meditated
plan of--shall we call it?--constitutional disloyalty. Nevertheless the
twofold ideal of unity, which inspired the acts both of those who
deserved and those who did not deserve to succeed, has survived all
these vicissitudes, and was never more strong than at the present
moment. Indeed it is obvious that not only the British and Dutch
inhabitants of South Africa, but also all responsible politicians and
competent publicists in Canada and Australia, are now of opinion that
complete solutions of the three South African problems of primary
importance--the settlement of the native question, agricultural
development, and railway administration--can only be obtained through a
Federal Parliament, a body which would combine a detailed knowledge of
local conditions with the power of seeing each problem as a whole, and
devising a general solution.
II
The foregoing contains the gist of many conversations with those who
have a special knowledge of South Africa and South African affairs. The
opinions of Sir Albert Hime, the Prime Minister of Natal, who may
certainly claim to speak in this matter on behalf of the South African
loyalists, were expressed as follows in an interview with the writer:--
"I am convinced that the majority of South Africans are anxious to see a
'United South Africa,' and I believe they will see it before long. I
cannot, of course, speak for the Dutch; but I am sure that every
'Britisher' in Natal and in Rhodesia, and nine out of every ten
'Britishers' in the rest of South Africa, are in favour of federation.
The great problems of South African development can only be completely
solved by a central authority. The native problem, for example, which is
the most serious of all, is a case in point. The difficulty of obtaining
a sufficient supply of native labour--a difficulty only to be overcome
by increasing the wants of the natives--is only one phase of this
problem, but it will supply an illustration of the necessity of
considering the interests of the whole country in dealing with such
matters. As things are arranged at present, the planters and farmers of
Natal have a reasonable cause of complaint in the fact that all their
available supply of native labour is drawn away to the Rand mines. I may
add that the solidarity of South African opinion in regard to the
treatment of the natives--all white men in South Africa are agreed, for
example, that they must never have the franchise, and that no attempt
should be made to create a navvy class in South Africa to compete with
the natives in the unskilled labour market--is a great unifying
influence. The matter of agricultural settlement is another problem
which should be considered with reference to the general interests of
the whole country. There is an impression current in certain quarters
that immigration should be diverted into the new Colonies. But once the
conception of a United South Africa is grasped, it is obvious that a new
British settler in Natal will do as much for the maintenance of British
supremacy as a new British settler in the Transvaal. If South Africa is
not to become a country of two or three large cities in a huge, sparsely
settled territory, the problem of agricultural development should be
dealt with on the broadest lines, and in the interest of the whole
country. Natal has no intention whatever of pursuing a selfish policy in
regard to the work of procuring settlers or of obtaining a share of the
Transvaal traffic."
Asked to express his opinion as to when the "United South Africa" of his
hopes would come into being, Sir Albert Hime naturally enough refused to
suggest a date. "But I am strongly of opinion that federation should
take place before the new Colonies receive self-government, or, at any
rate, concurrently with that event. That would be the safest course; for
it is quite possible that the new Colonies, after they had received
autonomy, would refuse to join. Once they have attained the privileges
of self-government as part and parcel of a 'United South Africa,' I do
not think there would be any special friction; if there was, it would
gradually disappear as local jealousies grew less."
"Though I do not regard the question of South African Federation as a
matter of merely academic interest," continued Sir Albert Hime, "yet I
think it would serve no useful purpose to discuss the details of a
federal scheme at the present moment. But, for my own part, I do not
regard the arguments of Mr. Cecil Rhodes in favour of making Cape Town
the federal capital as conclusive. In a speech at Bulawayo, Mr. Cecil
Rhodes summed up those arguments in a forcible manner, and his bequest
of Groote Schuur as a residence for the Premier of the United South
Africa that is to be, is an additional argument of considerable weight.
But I am inclined to think that the fact that the Cape Peninsula is, as
Mr. Rhodes said, the seaside sanatorium of South Africa, would not
compensate for the remoteness of Cape Town from the centre of the new
federation. And, again, if Cape Town were chosen there would be a
tendency to make too much of Cape politics, and the spirit of Cape
politicians might tend to dominate the Federal Parliament. Johannesburg
would be a bad choice. Living will always be costly there, and the
influence of cosmopolitan capitalists might be exerted with bad results.
Of course we should be glad to have the capital in Natal, but I do not
expect we shall have that honour. All things considered, Bloemfontein
would perhaps be the best choice. Or we might follow the example of the
United States, Canada, and Australia, and settle the claims of the
existing capitals by creating a new city for our federal capital."
III
Sir Edward Barton was at first unwilling to express an opinion on a
subject "in which many with better knowledge have a deep interest." "But
I am confident," he continued, "that before many years have passed away
we shall see a Federated South Africa, and that no South African will
wish to return to the old order of things once that federation has come
into being. I still believe that the form chosen for the constitution of
the Australian Commonwealth was the best available, and I think that it
would be better suited to South Africa than the Canadian form. But
whichever form is chosen, the whole community will benefit by
federation.
"We in Australia have had great difficulties to overcome, and a certain
amount of friction has necessarily arisen between the States and the
federal authority, but the history of the United States and of the
Dominion shows that such difficulties and friction cannot be avoided,
but can always be surmounted. With the exception of a few discontented
persons, I think nobody in Australia would be in favour of a return to
the old order of things, and it is already clear that the local
jealousies which hampered Australian progress are vanishing. When I was
in British Columbia nine years ago, I tried hard to find a man who
believed that the act of confederation should be undone; but I could not
discover such a person. There may be a few 'Blue Noses' in Nova Scotia
who would like to see confederation abolished, but I never met one. In
either case, the fact that Annexationists are few--too few to be
counted--in Canada, explains my failure. And once South African
Federation is an accomplished fact--and though the racial antithesis, as
was the case in Canada, renders the accomplishment more difficult than
in Australia, where a difference in opinion as to fiscal policy was the
chief obstacle--I am very sure that the vast majority of South Africans,
whether British or Dutch, will refuse to contemplate a change to the old
state of local jealousies. The sooner South African Federation comes,
the better for South Africa."
[Illustration: CHURCH STREET, PRETORIA THE APPROACH TO THE TOWN.
Drawn by Donald E. M'Cracken.]
Asked to answer the question: Should federation come before the new
Colonies receive self-government, or concurrently with that event? Sir
Edward Barton replied that in his opinion either course would create
difficulties for the future.
"Australian Federation," he continued, "came out of the will of the
people. The result of a referendum proved that a majority of the people
was in favour of federation, and all the States consented to the terms
thereof. Now if the Transvaal and the Orange River Colonies, communities
that have enjoyed a form of self-government in the past, had not free
choice of assent or refusal, and joined the South African Federation
under compulsion (no matter how slight a measure of compulsion),
constitutional difficulties might spring up in the hereafter. Disputes
might arise between the federal authority and these two States, and they
would say, 'We were not asked for our consent, we had not complete
freedom of choice.' In any case, representation must be given to them,
and it would be awkward if two out of the five Federal States or
Provinces were trying to overthrow the federation. I do not say this
would happen, but the possibility of such an emergency should be
seriously considered. It would be safe, I think, to work and wait for a
majority in favour of federation; more especially as there has existed
and still exists, as I am informed, a strong feeling that the interests
of both peoples in South Africa would be furthered by such a measure."
IV
Neither Mr. Seddon nor Sir Wilfrid Laurier granted the writer's request
for an expression of opinion in regard to the possibility or probability
of South African Federation. Mr. Seddon, though he is always ready to
advise the various Provinces of the Empire in commercial matters, is
averse to interfering in other people's politics. Moreover the word
"federation" has a discomfortable sound in the ears of his New Zealand
constituents; to a few it suggests Rossetti's "might-have-been," to most
its echo is a more or less decided "certainly not."
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, who has suffered much from the too imaginative
interviewer, both in the United States and in France, makes it a
principle not to be interviewed. But a day or two after he had
courteously declined to grant the writer's request, he was good enough
to allude to the subject of South African Federation in a speech at
Edinburgh, from which the following excerpt is taken: "In my humble
opinion," said the Canadian Premier, with reference to the attempt of
Mr. Rhodes to secure the unification of South Africa, "Mr. Rhodes made
one mistake. He made the mistake of being too impatient. Had he allowed
time for development, had he allowed the Dutch population to get
reconciled to the idea of British citizenship, they would have had much
sooner than will be the case the federation of South Africa, _which is
the only future of that great country_."
To judge from the spirit of his utterances in Canada on the subject of
South Africa, it would appear that Sir Wilfrid Laurier's opinions as to
the best means of working towards the end of South African Federation
do not materially differ from those of Sir Edmund Barton. He believes
that the free consent of the new Colonies should be obtained, and that
the policy pursued with regard to Manitoba by the "Fathers of
Confederation"--a policy of which he disapproved at the time, a policy
which led to a long series of disputes between Manitoba and the Dominion
Government--should not be pursued in the case of the Transvaal and
Orange River Colonies. It will be remembered that the "Red River
Settlement" received Provincial status on condition of becoming a member
of confederation, and that the terms of membership were accepted under
compulsion, and in the hope that they could be bettered.
LAW AND LANGUAGE
BY MR. M. J. FARRELLY, LL.D.
_Barrister-at-Law; Advocate of the Supreme Court of Cape Colony_
I.--THE ROMAN DUTCH LAW AND THE LAW OF ENGLAND
The Roman Dutch Law--the body of legal principles and enactments
codified under the later Roman Empire by the Emperor Justinian, as
modified by legislation of the States-General and decisions of the
tribunals of Holland up to the end of the eighteenth century--the date
of the British occupation of Cape Colony--constitutes the Common Law of
all British South Africa from the Zambesi to the sea. Indeed its sway
stretches farther north, if we include the province of Northern
Rhodesia.
The recent annexation to the Empire of the territories of the two Boer
Republics must necessarily have many effects not alone in the sphere of
politics, but also in that of law. But no unsettling of the general
principles of private law, regulating the rights and duties of the
citizens in private relations, can be the result. The invariable
practice of the Imperial Government--the only possible one to prevent
inextricable confusion of personal status and property rights--has
always been to enforce, as the unaltered law of the land, any system of
European Law already in operation in territories annexed or ceded to the
Empire, being already a portion of the dominion of any State of the
European Family of Nations. In this respect the Imperial Government but
follows the general practice of other European States: a practice so
uniform that it may almost be regarded as a portion of the Law of
Nations, of that custom of the European race which for a century we are
accustomed to speak of as International Law. The committee of the Privy
Council, which, as regards the Empire outside of Europe, may be viewed
as the Imperial Court of Appeal, has therefore to adjudicate on systems
of law more numerous than these that come before any other tribunal in
the world. Not alone questions to be determined under the Common Law of
England, but suits to be decided under that law, as modified by the
legislation of the self-governing Colonies, come under the cognisance of
that unique tribunal. From the Channel Islands, whose people boast that
they were never conquered by England, are heard appeals, based on the
_Grand Coutumier de Normandie_, unknown in France since the French
Revolution. The French Law of Lower Canada, still administered under
British authority, is lifeless and unknown in the Paris which gave it
birth. Similarly the Roman Dutch Law of the United Provinces, now
enforced in the former over-sea possessions of Holland, has long ago
been swept away in Low Countries, surviving as the law of the land only
in the British possessions, in South America, in Ceylon, and in South
Africa. With one result, arresting the attention of the historical
student, that in our own day British tribunals accept, as of the highest
authority--in many matters most vitally affecting the status and
property of British citizens from the Lion's Head to the Line, the
recorded opinions of a Pretorian prefect of the Roman Empire in
York--the brightest of the five stars of the _Loi des Citations_.
The tribunals of the Empire constitute a museum of former systems of
law, flourishing far from their parent springs. But every change is not
necessarily progress. The marked liking of British colonists, born in
the United Kingdom, for the Roman Law under whose sway they have passed
is a very instructive phenomenon. Wisdom, they seem to think, did not
die with the fashioners of that "codeless myriad of precedents, that
wilderness of single instances" which, evolved according to
imperturbable theory from the bosom of the English judiciary, is known
as the Law of England.
This preference is the more impressive, seeing that on many vital
matters, not mere abstractions of jurisprudence, the Roman Dutch Law
differs from the English systemless system.
The personal status of all residents in the new British Colonies falls
under rules quite different from the English rules as to capacity to
enter into and to perform contracts, as to property rights, and as to
family relations. Results of some importance may chiefly be expected
from the fact that, since the annexation and the transformation of the
Republics into British Colonies, the presumption in law that British
immigrants intend to adopt a new domicile, and subject themselves and
their property to a new legal system, must necessarily be stronger than
when residence was being taken up in the territory, then foreign, of two
Boer Republics. In the future, not alone, as hitherto, contracts of
service and contracts as regards property, but the relationship,
personal and as affecting property, of marriage and succession, will
fall under the jurisdiction of a High Court administering primarily the
Law of Rome. The Court will apply the Law of England to those latter
conditions only in cases in which they consider that, in accordance with
the principles of Private International Law, the English system is
applicable--the presumption now being that, as a general rule, it is not
applicable.
[Illustration: Photo: Russell, London.
RIGHT HON. SIR J. GORDON SPRIGG, K.C.M.G.,
Prime Minister of Cape Colony.]
As regards the capacity of adults to enter into and be bound by
contract, the most striking difference between the English and Roman
Dutch systems is the survival, under the latter, of a modified form of
the Roman Interdiction of the Prodigal. Under certain circumstances, on
application of friends or relatives, such an order can issue. Again,
contracts of service made out of South Africa are not binding unless
entered into again before a public official in South Africa.
In respect to the tenure of property, more especially of property in
land, the differences which exist are all in favour of Roman Dutch Law.
An admirable system of registering titles to land, whether of ownership
or mortgage, exists in South Africa, as on the Continent of Europe,
where that most valuable legacy from the Roman Empire has remained
unchanged in principle to our day. No tedious scrutiny of documents
attesting title to land is necessary, as it is in England. The official
register is sufficient proof of ownership. Transfer is rapid and
inexpensive. Again, unavoidable calamity, amounting to a condition of
impossibility of beneficial occupation, excuses from the necessity of
payment of rent of land. Such excuse is not known to the Law of England.
Unlike the Law of England, but like the Law of Scotland, desertion by
either party to a marriage furnishes ground for absolute divorce, with
right of re-marriage. The system, flowing directly from the Roman Law,
both in Scotland and South Africa, is understood to work satisfactorily,
comparatively few divorces being sought for.
II.--THE MODERN LAW OF SOUTH AFRICA
Leaving the general principles of the law affecting personal status,
family relations, and property rights, the difference between the Law of
England and that of South Africa practically disappears as regards
Europeans in social relations. In the whole field of Commercial Law, and
in that of the Law of Crimes and Punishments, the Law of England has
practically been adopted in all the States and Colonies. The origin of
this state of the law is, of course, to be found in the fact that the
Roman Law conceptions were out of harmony with modern commercial
conditions and the competition of the World Market; and also that their
code of Crimes and Punishments has become inappropriate to the later
forms of European civilisation.
Several features of South African legislation require more special
notice. The Transvaal Law may be taken as typical of that of the other
States, and political and economical conditions make the law of the late
Republics of most importance and interest to the British public. The
most salient topics are those dealt with by the Law of Mines, the law as
to the natives, and the Law of Universal Military Service.
The law as to minerals, including not alone gold and silver, but all
precious metals and precious stones, is based on State ownership. It is
expressly declared: "The right of mining for and disposal of all
precious stones and precious metals belongs to the State."
The State, however, does not undertake the work of mining, but grants,
under certain conditions, that privilege to various classes in the
community. The Government is authorised by law to proclaim a specified
area to be public "diggings." Thereupon, certain rights are reserved to
the owner of the farm wherein the area is situated. These rights are in
effect to select certain portions of the proclaimed area as mining
"claims" belonging to the owner, and to mark off these portions. The
remainder of the area is then open to appropriation by the public, the
first comer having the first right. Shortly before the war of 1899, in
consequence of scenes of disorder attending the marking off of these
"claims" by the general public, steps were taken to introduce a system
of assigning the mining areas by lot among the residents in each
district.
The taxation of the mineral grounds was, and is, based on a dual system.
The one is taxation, by means of levying a monthly due, called a "claim
licence," in the mere possession of a mining area, called a "claim,"
whether or not the area is being developed. The other principle,
superadded to the first, was that of taxing the profits of each mine.
Before the war this latter tax amounted to five per cent.
In relation to gold mining, in one very important respect the Law of the
Transvaal, like that of Cape Colony, is in striking opposition to the
rules of civilised law all over the world. The famous I. D. B. (Illicit
Diamond Buying) enactments passed to protect diamond mining in Kimberley
have a parallel in the I. G. B. (Illicit Gold Buying) provisions of the
Transvaal Law. It is incumbent on the possessor of rough diamonds to
prove his innocence. Similarly, under the Gold Law of the Transvaal,
"Any one who is found in possession of amalgam or unwrought gold, or
uncut precious stones, and can give no proof that he obtained possession
of the same in a lawful manner," is punishable with fine and
imprisonment. For a third offence, the amount of fine and imprisonment
with hard labour is at the discretion of the Court, and forfeiture of
the unwrought gold, or uncut precious stones, follows conviction.
It is true that in England, for instance, a similar exception is in
force with reference to the possession of explosives, a measure intended
to prevent Anarchist outrages. But the difference is very great between
the two classes of cases. The manufacture and sale of explosives is not
the staple industry of England, as the production of gold and diamonds
is in South Africa. The chief occupation of the industrial population of
England is not affected; the provision remains only one of some
inconsiderable exceptions to the general rule, that every one is
presumed innocent until he is proved guilty.
The law relating to natives, under which head are included all the
coloured races, is equally strange to those familiar only with the Law
of England. The so-called Pass Law provides that every native in
districts or towns inhabited by Europeans--everywhere, in fact, except
in the native villages--must be in possession of an official passport,
showing he is registered in an official State registry. Other
regulations limit the action of the native--the Curfew regulations,
compelling Kaffirs in town districts to remain indoors after sunset.
Municipal rules, prohibiting Kaffirs from walking on the footpath of the
street, and special rules of the Criminal Law affect them. The lash is
presented as the penalty for various offences. The death penalty is
inflicted for Kaffir outrages on women of the European race. By the
imposition of a Hut Tax, payable annually, the Kaffir is induced to
labour; an occupation which, if left to himself, he prefers to leave to
women.
The Law of Universal Military Service, applying to all Europeans who are
burghers--a law of all the States of South Africa--furnishes another
point of divergence from the Law of England. In the Transvaal all
burghers over the age of sixteen and up to the age of sixty are under
the military command of the elected Field Cornet of the district. In
time of war the age begins at fourteen and has no fixed limit for
ending. This, be it noted, is not a case of conscription; it is a levy
_en masse_, taken as a normal condition of life. Burghers on commando
are exempt from civil process, and are exempt from the obligation of
paying claim licenses for the period they are on commando.
III.--RECENT BRITISH MODIFICATIONS
It is, of course, in the present stage of our information impossible to
state fully the various modifications which have been introduced in the
new Colonies since the British annexation two years ago.
Some changes worth noticing have, however, been published.
In Private Law, the chief change of which we have information appears to
have been the abolition of the Orphan Chamber of Roman Dutch Law--a
State department concerned with the administration of infants' estates.
The change, however, seems only to have been one of administration and
title, the duties of the abolished Chamber being transferred to the
Attorney-General's Department.
As regards the Gold Law, an enactment by the late Republic of a war-tax
on the gold output of from forty to fifty per cent. has been abolished.
The British tax on the mines has been fixed by proclamation at ten per
cent. on the profits of each mine. The system of claim licenses--taxation
on the possession of mining areas--is continued.
Minor modifications of the details of the Native Pass Law have also been
announced, including the restriction of the number of cases, and of the
power of magistrates to sentence Kaffirs to the punishment of the lash.
The Law of Military Service appears to remain up to the present
unmodified. Indeed, a recent decision in the newly established British
High Court of the Transvaal has very rigidly construed a provision of
the Gold Law, protecting burghers on commando from liability to pay
license dues. The Court refuses to allow to Uitlanders the same
privilege as that allowed to burghers in arms. The Uitlander, according
to that decision, is liable to pay these arrears accruing during the war
to the present British administration.
IV.--PRINCIPLES OF IMPERIAL POLICY--OBSTACLES IN THE WAY OF THEIR BEING
CARRIED OUT
Before considering specific suggestions as to actual legislation
required in the new Colonies, it is necessary to set clearly before us
what are the objects to be aimed at by Imperial statesmen. Most of the
errors of the past century of Imperial rule in South Africa are
traceable to the fact that no steady and consistent policy has been
adopted for any definite period. With every change of government in the
United Kingdom the British policy in South Africa altered. As I have
written elsewhere, it swung with bewildering inconsistency, according to
whether an Imperialist or a Little Englander Government was in power,
from an expansionist to a "retrenchment" policy. Alternately
negrophilist and anti-Kaffir, alternately conciliatory to the Dutch and
aggressively British. "Nothing more fixed than the certainty of Imperial
change, unless, indeed, it were the cruelty of Imperial ingratitude."
I shall take it, then, that consistency is the least we may expect as
the result of the late war. The maintenance of the integrity of the
world-wide Empire, plainly bound up with the retention of South Africa,
involving the possession of the only secure sea-route to Australia and
India; the upholding of the banner of European justice and humanity in
Africa, the British portion of the mission of the European race the
world over--to this end, the fusion of all strains of the European
people in a new nationality to form a constituent part of the
Empire--these I take to be the objects of Imperial statesmen in the
United Kingdom and the Colonies, and of all loyal citizens of the
Empire.
Now, these principles being fixed, we have next to consider what are the
dangers threatening the successful carrying out of a policy based on
these principles.
The first, and most formidable, danger is that arising from the
existence in all the Colonies of South Africa of a Separatist party
among the Boer section of the population, usually described as the Young
Afrikander party. Its origin is due to many historic causes; among which
not the least has been the unwise and vacillating policy of the Imperial
Government. That party is by no means extinct as a result of the late
war. No matter what professions are made in the Land of Diplomatists, it
has to be reckoned with for our time and generation. It relies for the
ultimate success of its policy of substituting a Boer-ruled independent
State for British citizenship of the Empire on many causes. In the first
place, the stubborn tenacity of the Boer people, and their slowness to
abandon any long-held purpose. Again, on their military skill, their
religious fanaticism, their conviction that they are the Lord's elect,
and that His sword will smite not in vain. Yet again, and most of all,
on the enormous birth-rate among the Boers--families of twelve sons
being not uncommon. Boer ignorance of the power and purpose of the
Empire--of the real character of that federation of freemen--figures
also in their calculations; and as well the barrier against fusion of
the European strains kept up by the use of that _patois_ of the
Hollander tongue, the South African _Taal_. Lastly, their main reliance
is on future inefficiency of the Imperial administration--marred by
negrophilist British missionaries and English society nepotism and
favouritism--on the see-saw of British party politics, and on the
prospects of the Empire becoming involved in war with some great
European Power.
The next danger is that arising from the presence on the goldfields of
the Transvaal of vast agglomerations of cosmopolitan finance owning most
of the mineral wealth of the State. On many points, the interest of
these groups is not the same as those of the Imperial Government and
those of the rank and file of the British settlers. Taxation of the
mines for Imperial purposes, such as those of State-aided British
immigration and State-constructed irrigation works, cannot be in the
interest of the mining groups. The lowering of the wages of the white
miners is clearly in their interest; while opposed to the prospects of
welfare of British miners and British merchants in the towns, to those
of the professional classes, and, above all, to the interests of British
agricultural settlers, whose occupation cannot be profitable for many
years to come unless their market is at their door. Mining profits
remitted to Berlin and Paris, instead of going to the pockets of
resident British miners, cannot benefit the British agricultural
settler. Again, the truck system, by which employers supply goods to
their workers (a system illegal in England), while it may increase the
profits of the mining groups, would be destruction of the trade of the
British dwellers in the towns. This aspect of the question is rendered
more serious by the fact that practically all the press of South Africa
is owned or controlled by the financiers of the mining groups.
Lastly, a danger which has existed for generations is that arising from
the existence of a body of sentiment in the United Kingdom which, for
want of a better word, is called negrophilism. This sentiment is usually
voiced by British missionaries, and advocates an impossible black man
and brother theory. Its effect on British legislation and administration
in South Africa caused the first dissension of moment between Boers and
British at the time of the abolition of negro slavery in 1836. The whole
theory is felt by all Europeans of South African experience to be based
on a flat contradiction of the facts of life and the teaching of the 250
years of European contact with the South African native--Bushman,
Hottentot, or Kaffir. Allied with this is the colour-blindness of some
Anglo-Indians, who favour the disastrous measure of flooding South
Africa with Asiatics from India.
V.--LINES OF LEGISLATION TO CARRY OUT THE IMPERIAL POLICY
Having defined the Imperial policy in South Africa to be the maintenance
of the integrity of that federation of freemen which is the British
Empire, the upholding of the banner of European justice and humanity in
the Dark Continent, and for the promotion of these ends the fusion of
all strains of the European race in one community, let us now consider
the general lines of State action requisite to carry out that policy.
All parties loyal to the Empire are agreed that the first requisite
from the standpoint of the Imperial welfare is the promotion of the
immigration of British agriculturists to South Africa. The enormous
birth-rate of the Boer people will prevent any prospect of fusion
between British and Boers--anything, in fact, but the swamping of the
British element--unless this immigration be organised by the State. The
life of the gold and diamond mines cannot last longer--so those
qualified to speak are agreed--than a few generations. With the
exhaustion of the mines, the British population, if confined to the
towns, would inevitably disappear. Again, the Boers being essentially
country folk, could never have that close association with the British
necessary for the coalition of a united people, unless the British are
settled as agriculturists. A most encouraging precedent of the success
of State-organised immigration of British settlers on the land is to be
found in the State-aided immigration of 1820 into the Eastern Province
of Cape Colony.
Exactly as in Egypt and in India, agriculture, to be prosperous and to
extend over large areas, is impossible in South Africa unless with the
aid of State-constructed irrigation works. The water supply, both from
rainfall and underground natural reservoirs, is ample; but engineering
skill is required to enable these sources to be utilised all the year
round. The recently published report of Mr. W. Willcocks shows what
favourable prospects exist for the carrying out of a general system of
State irrigation works.
One word of warning is necessary. The general impression, so sedulously
created for many years past, of the unsuitability of South Africa as a
sphere for British immigration, is, as Mr. Rudyard Kipling has pointed
out, only a part of a political propaganda, intended to exclude British
influence. It may be entirely ignored.
The next requisite of State action is the promotion, by legislation and
administration, of the development of the present and future goldfields,
and other mineral fields, in such manner as may tend to further the
general ends of the Imperial policy as already described. The taxation
of the mines should be so adjusted as to favour British immigration and
the creation of a prosperous and loyal British community. The
development of new fields should be encouraged; adequate sums should be
raised for public objects; the minerals, expressly declared to be
property of the State, should be primarily regarded as a fund for State
purposes, not one for the creation of millionaires or the undue
enriching of shareholders in Hamburg or Paris or Vienna. The welfare of
the mass of British residents in the towns engaged in trade should be
considered in legislation affecting the gold mines.
In view of the presence of an overwhelming majority of the subject
Kaffir race, all Europeans should be trained to arms, on the model of
the laws already in existence in the two new Colonies. From an Imperial,
as distinguished from a European standpoint, this measure is equally
necessary. The Boers are born soldiers: a nation in arms. No reliance on
a professional army or professional police can afford any assurance of
stability for the Imperial rule. The Boers would regard such a régime as
merely one of transitory military domination.
An efficient system of education, from primary school to university,
should be organised and carried out. In the new Colonies great progress
has already been made in this direction, and a recently published
address by Mr. W. Sargent, the Director of Education, shows that the
principles to be kept in mind are clearly apprehended.
A sane and consistent policy with regard to the status of the Kaffir and
other non-European people should be adopted and adhered to. The Boer
position, that the Kaffir is not in justice entitled to equality, social
or political, with Europeans, should be upheld, as that plainly
sanctioned by European experience of two centuries and a half.
Efficiency should be insisted on as the test for appointment in the
public service. Salaries on an adequate scale should be given, bearing
in mind the standard of payment usually obtaining in gold-bearing
districts. The obstacles in the way of making efficiency the test of
appointment should be clearly understood, and as far as possible guarded
against; the persistence of Young Afrikander Separatist ideals, and the
readiness of the propagandists to accept office under the Imperial
Government; the danger of undue weight being given to the influence of
the great capitalists; the equal danger of the intrigue, favouritism,
and nepotism of London society--of which so much was heard at the late
Committee of Inquiry into the training of army officers--being brought
to bear on appointments to office in the new Colonies.
The language question--that of the degree of recognition necessary or
expedient of the Dutch language in the courts and public offices--is so
important that it is better to consider it separately.
[Illustration: Photo: Russell, London.
HON. SIR ARTHUR LAWLEY, K.C.M.G.,
Lieutenant-Governor of the Transvaal.]
VI.--THE LANGUAGE QUESTION
The question of the degree of recognition of the Dutch language in the
new Colonies to be accorded by the new administration is one of the most
difficult, and at the same time one of the most urgent and altogether
inevitable, presented by the altered situation, the result of the late
war. It is one of the cases where not to decide is to decide. Let us
endeavour to understand the conditions of the problem, bearing steadily
in mind the objects to be aimed at by the Imperial policy.
No responsible statesman in the United Kingdom or in the Colonies can
desire to take any step other than conciliatory to Boer sentiment,
provided the main object of creating a united and prosperous European
community is obtained. Anything like a persecution of the Boer tongue or
traditions would not only be unjust, but most unwise. At the same time,
Imperial statesmen must remember that British-descended citizens of the
Empire in South Africa hold that their sentiment and their opinion is
not to be taken as a matter to be ignored. Now, Imperialist sentiment in
South Africa is united as to the desirability of having only one
official language, and of doing away with the dual language system
introduced in Cape Colony twenty years ago.
Limiting any action of the Imperial Government, must necessarily be the
conditions as to the recognition of Dutch agreed upon with the Boer
generals as one of the terms of peace. These conditions were that the
Dutch language is to be taught in the schools, in cases where the
parents of the children desire it; and in the courts of law in cases
where, in the opinion of the court, the ends of justice will be
furthered by its use. The wish of the parents and the discretion of the
law-courts are, therefore, to be arbiters. The peace terms, in this
matter, seem wholly reasonable; but the main question of a dual language
remains unaffected.
Let us first deal with the cause of much misapprehension in the United
Kingdom in this matter. Here I will quote from an article of mine
published some time before the peace agreement:--
"There is no question here of the suppression of the language of a
people. The language of the Boer people of South Africa is a patois
called the Taal, based on the seventeenth-century Hollander Dutch, with
a mixture of many strange words, Kaffir and English, and with the
omission of most grammatical inflexions. In that happy tongue you are
permitted to say: 'I is.' It is needless to say there is no literature
in this patois, as there is in the Hollander Dutch of this century. Now,
it is only to Hollander Dutch that it is proposed to accord equal
audience as an official language. The official recognition of Hollander
Dutch dates from 1882 in the Cape Colony, and is a result of the
political propaganda of the Afrikander Bond. It was openly announced and
hailed as the 'thin end of the wedge' to prevent the fusion of the Boer
and British strains of the European people, and to drive the British
into the sea. It is almost as grotesque a misrepresentation to call this
claim for the official recognition of Hollander Dutch a popular demand,
as if, in regard to modern Italy, we were told that the peasants of
Umbria or the Marches were hungering and thirsting for the recognition
of Augustan Latin as entitled to equal audience with Italian in the
courts and public offices of Italy.
"The veld Boer does not understand Hollander Dutch. He only hears the
Hollander tongue, or, rather, the seventeenth-century predecessor of it,
in the text from the seventeenth-century Dutch Bible read out in the
churches on Sundays by the predikant, or in the hymns, once chanted by
his forefathers of the Lowlands, who worsted Alva, persecutor of the
Saints of the Lord.
"It will clear the air greatly if people at home will realise what is
the force behind this Hollander Dutch language movement. It is the Young
Afrikander party.
"For sixty years English was the sole official language in South Africa.
The experiment of two official languages is one of only twenty years'
duration, and has not been crowned with any conspicuous success, unless
racial cleavage, political and social, be counted as such.
"No other course can so speedily promote the fusion of all Europeans.
Judging by the trend of events, the future among the European people
belongs to one or two of the great languages. It is significant that, at
the present moment of time, with a knowledge of English and French, one
can travel the world. The fusion of European strains, so happily
accomplished in the United States of America, is admittedly due to the
determined enforcement of a single language as the sole official
language of the Republic. Immigrants of all European nationalities learn
to speak and write English--their children of the next generation become
Americans. As a London Consul-General of the United States pointed out
to me, the reunion of the European race, as a political measure on a
vast scale, has been first accomplished in the American Commonwealth.
Never since the pre-historic time of the root-origins of our language,
never since the corporate unity of the Roman Empire, has there been so
vast a breaking down of barriers between Europeans.
"The matter is one of political expediency, not of æsthetics. The unity
of the European people is a greater historic fact and present reality
than any of those brief heritages of common life for a few short
centuries of one or other sections of the race, giving rise to the
national tongues. Personally, one may sympathise with the scholar's
preference for a survival of Latin as the language of Europe, as it was
during the Roman Empire, as it was during the Middle Ages, and as it
would have remained but for the outburst of Nationalist particularism
during the sixteenth century. One may lament, with a loyal European like
Talleyrand, what that outburst has cost Europe; led by the ambition of
the House of Capet in France, of the Tudor in England, and the princes
of North Germany, plunderers of the Teutonic knights. No doubt it is
true that thousands of millions of pounds and millions of lives have
been wasted by that particularism--strange step-child of the unifying
Renaissance. From the æsthetic side, it is vain to argue whether Keltic
be a purer tongue, more passionately expressive, Spanish more majestic,
or Italian liquid music. The sieve of the gods seems hitherto to let
through, for the world of the European race, only two of the great
tongues--French and English."
In a word, for all æsthetic purposes, let the various harmonies of all
the tongues of the European race continue to enrich the choir,
enshrining memories of the past. But for the political field of action
the trumpet of command and order should sound a note clear from its
being single.
Any incidental inconvenience, such as must arise to the first generation
of immigrants to the American Commonwealth, must only be treated as
transitory, and, as far as possible, provided against. Very few
Europeans who do not know English have business in the law-courts or
public offices. In the years preceding the late war, only five out of
every hundred cases in the Transvaal law-courts were between people not
conversant with English. For this small minority, in all the public
offices and the courts, competent interpreters can be provided.
VII.--LEGISLATIVE MEASURES
It may be well that I should add some suggestions as to the measures
which I at present hold should be taken to put into force the general
lines of legislation, already sketched out as suitable for the carrying
out of the Imperial policy as already defined. But it should be
understood that these suggestions are only intended as furnishing
material for discussion. In the absence of fuller information as to
future needs and emergencies, it would be unwise to finally advocate
concrete measures. What is, in my mind, of importance is not any
specific measure, but the principles of Imperial policy on which I have
insisted. If it can be shown to me, in the future discussions on these
matters, in which I hope to take part on my return to South Africa, that
other measures are better suited to carry out the consistent policy I
have defined, I shall be prepared to advocate such other measures.
In the first place, I think that in view of the wide divergence of
opinion and interest, among the British residents quite as much as among
the Boers, a consultative body, nominated by the High Commissioner,
should be appointed to advise on any projected legislation. For some
time, while the form of Crown Colony Government is continued, advice
from such a body will be specially needful. Apart from the maintenance
of law and order, the interests of the great mining groups,
representation of shareholders resident in Europe is by no means
necessarily the same as those of the rest of the British residents, or
indeed those of the Imperial Government. Among such matters of
divergence of interest may be enumerated the scale and method of
taxation on the mines, no matter for what Imperial purpose--British
immigration, State irrigation works, or university and general
education. The maintenance of the present very high rate of wages of the
European miners is another subject. British residents in the towns,
shopkeepers, importers, professional men and their employees, are
concerned in the maintenance of a high rate of wages for the miners, as
the money is spent in the country, not in Paris or Berlin. Again, the
introduction of the truck system, the supply of goods by the miners to
their employees, European or Kaffir, while it would increase the profits
of mining shareholders in Europe, would destroy the means of existence
of the bulk of the British residents in the towns.
Amongst the Boers, there is almost as great divergence of interest
between the wealthy farmers, desirous of keeping together their vast
cattle ranches of 6000 acres, and the class of Bijwoners (tenants at
will on an over-lord's land), whose interest would be favoured by the
dividing up of cattle ranches, and the encouragement of small farmers
who would be agriculturists.
For this reason, a consultation body should be thoroughly representative
of all classes.
Direct legislation favouring British immigration of agriculturists is
plainly necessary, and as well the creation of State irrigation works.
Such steps, it is reassuring to know, have already been taken.
Personally, I am in favour of village ownership of agricultural lands
being instituted, a system with which the Boers are already familiar, in
connection with the cultivation of the lands owned by the towns.
To promote the prosperity of British residents in the towns, and as well
to secure a market for agricultural produce, the truck system should be
prohibited by law; and the compound system, under which the Kaffir
workmen in mines are not only supplied with goods but confined to
barracks called "compounds," should also be prohibited. Neither system
has hitherto been in force in the new Colonies.
As regards the Gold Law, the new British administration has established
a tax of ten per cent. on the net profits of each mine, and has retained
the previous system as well, of taxing the possession of mining areas.
It will require some time to see how the present method of levy affects
the growth of the British population. Personally, I have not been
convinced by the arguments in favour of the "claim license" system: it
is held by its opponents that it tends to throw all the mining areas
into the possession of the great mining groups, the areas being
forfeited to the State in times of depression by poorer men who are
unable to continue to pay. Suggestions deserving consideration have been
made as to the advisability of the State developing gold areas already
in the possession of the State.
As regards the arrears of claim licenses accruing during the war against
the expelled British inhabitants, I have strongly advocated in the
London press their entire remission. The Boer burgher on commando is
held to be exempted; it is difficult to see why the expelled British
should not also be exempted.
Another measure which I have supported is that of the arming of all
British civilians, for reasons already enumerated. An essential to the
measure being successful, being loyally supported, is that, on the Boer
model, the officers of the corps should be elected by their men. British
colonists, with their traditions of liberty and independence, will never
submit to being compulsorily placed on military service and subjected to
the orders of officers whom they have not chosen.
No measure of greater political moment can be taken than the thorough
organising of a system of education, from the university to the school.
I am one of those who support the making of the Gold Reef city a great
university centre.
As regards the Native Law, I advocate as little as possible alteration
in the laws already in force. The Boer theory of the position of the
Kaffir--as not an equal, but entitled to justice, under tutelage to a
government directed by European ideals--is the sound one.[2]
Asiatic immigration in any form, whether of British Indians from India,
or Chinese from Hong-Kong or elsewhere, would be a measure fraught with
disaster to the future of European civilisation. With the exception of
some employers of labour in Rhodesia and Natal, South African
opinion--British, Boer, even Kaffir--is opposed to Asiatic immigration.
Even the employers referred to only desire to encourage the importation
of Asiatics as manual labourers, not as owners of the land or traders in
the towns.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] In the _Fortnightly Review_, August 1902. Ideal with this subject:
"Negrophilism in South Africa."
THE AFRICANDER PARTY
ITS ORIGIN, ITS GROWTH, ITS AIMS
BY THE HON. A. WILMOT
_Member of the Legislative Council, Cape Colony; Author of "History of
Our Own Times in South Africa," &c., &c._
One of the greatest statesmen whose experience and ability have assisted
the Imperial Government declares that it was only after two years'
residence that he understood the political problems affecting South
Africa. Hundreds rush in where Milners fear to tread, and the little
knowledge which induces superficial views and rash judgment on a merely
_primâ facie_ case are now at present, as they have been in the past,
among the causes which impede the progress of a vast country which we
hope will yet become a great federated dominion under the British crown.
It is because of the vital importance of going to the root of the
political questions affecting South Africa that this paper is written.
The origin of the Africander party is traceable principally to
discontent with British rule. The Cape Colony, as our readers know, was
obtained by conquest in 1806, and by purchase from the Netherlands for
six million pounds sterling in the year 1814. Mr. Paul M. Botha, Member
of the Orange Free State Volksraad for Kroonstadt, states the case from
the Dutchman's point of view, and tells us that as England said that
South Africa was her country she ought to have governed it, instead of
which she shirked responsibilities and was guilty of the most glaring
inconsistencies. One day England blew hot and the next cold. "One moment
she insisted on swallowing us, and the next moment she insisted on
disgorging us." For example, the Orange Free State was declared British
territory because a governor said, "You can never escape British
jurisdiction." Then we were abandoned because the next governor said,
"The country was a howling wilderness." The Transvaal was annexed, and
Sir Garnet Wolseley declared: "The rivers will sooner run back in their
courses than that England will give back the Transvaal." Shortly after
that the Transvaal was retroceded, after Majuba, because the British
Ministry said, "We have been unjust in annexing this country."[3]
The slavery question, Mr. Botha tells us, was handled with astounding
negligence and ignorance of the circumstances of the people. Although
England was perfectly right in emancipating the slaves, yet the way it
was done irritated, annoyed, and disgusted the people, and sowed seeds
of distrust which have never been eradicated. England failed to carry
out effectively her promises of compensation.
On the minor grievances, such as Slagter's Nek and other so-called
injustices of England, Mr. Botha lays no stress. "It was a rough period,
and rough measures were used by all Governments." He significantly adds
that what he has heard of the cruelty of the Dutch East India Company's
officials makes him think that anyhow British rule was heaven to that of
the Dutch. Whatever a well-educated man like Mr. Botha may say, we know
that the rank and file of the Dutch throughout South Africa are taught
to "Remember Slagter's Nek." Nothing can be more unjust than to blame
the British power for executing rebels, caught red-handed and sentenced
to death in perfect accord with both evidence and law by a competent
Court, whose members were themselves of Dutch extraction. Nevertheless
this is one of the heavy popular grievances.
Mr. Botha says that England's weak and spasmodic policy in South Africa
has made the Boer what he is to-day--distrustful and contemptuous of
British statesmen. By further receding into the interior, and having to
fight wild beasts and hordes of Kaffirs, the Boer became blown out with
vanity at his own prowess, and more and more ignorant. Through this
ignorance it is easier to mislead than to lead him. A man who plays upon
his vanity and prejudices against England quickly obtains influence. A
loud talker and blusterer gets a better hearing than a quiet reasoner.
"I ascribe this to want of education and complete isolation on the
veldt."
As a marked illustration in support of Mr. Botha's view which has come
under the present writer's observation, let us tell what occurred
shortly before the war to a nephew of the Speaker of the House of
Assembly who had to travel through the Transvaal to look after some
landed property. This gentleman, who spoke the Taal perfectly, met at
one place about two dozen Dutchmen who were, like the Laird of Cockpen,
"greatly ta'en up with the 'fairs of the State." The first question,
"Can we beat the British?" was answered by a unanimous "Yes, we have
done so before, and can, of course, easily do so again." Second. "Tell
me, Carls, could we beat England and France united?" "Certainly," said
every one, "there can be no doubt about it." But now interposed a new
speaker. "How if we had to fight England, France, and Germany?" The
reply was unanimous. "We can beat them all three." No wonder that the
people of the Lord, as they believed themselves to be, took the bit
between their teeth at the time of the ultimatum. Not even Paul Kruger
could then have stopped the war, for they felt perfectly assured of
victory.
With a religion which has not unfitly been described as a superstition
based upon the Old Testament, there is profound ignorance accompanied by
prejudice of the most deep-rooted character. Mr. Botha tells us that
unfortunately the ministers of the Dutch Reformed Church, "greedy for
the fat lamb, the fowl, and the purse," foster this ignorance. One
Predikant had actually the audacity to tell his congregation that God
_must_ help His chosen people, otherwise He would lose His influence.
Mr. Botha defends his own people against charges of treachery, and gives
it as his fixed opinion that a just and firm Government with uniformity
of treatment will not only control and satisfy the Boers, but eradicate
in time that feeling of distrust and fear which was engendered in their
minds by the halting and unequal policy of England. He admits at the
same time that it is to Britain that they owe peace, and that it was
Britain that protected them from foreign invasion and saved them from
continual civil strife. Then comes most important evidence. President
Brand of the Free State recognised in the misgoverned Transvaal a subtle
enemy. Indeed, it is scarcely remembered that in 1857 the burghers of
the South African Republic invaded the Orange Free State territory and
declared that it belonged to them. Paul Kruger was subsequently raised
up, in the opinion of his followers, to be a Moses, whose mission was to
deliver "De Africander Natie" from British bondage. Mr. Botha asks us to
let him tear this veil of false romance away. "We know him," he tells
us, "as an avaricious, unscrupulous, and hypocritical man, who
sacrificed a whole people to his cupidity." Krugerism spread over South
Africa, using the Bond, the press, and the pulpit to further its
schemes.
[Illustration: AT THE HEAD OF UMGENI FALLS, HOWICK, NATAL.]
Let it be fully understood--the Bond was the _fons_ and _origo_ of the
South African war--Krugerism powerfully co-operating. The idea of the
Africander Bond took root at the Paarl in the Cape Colony in the years
1879 and 1880. Of course, as we have seen, there was abundant
preparation, but events in the Transvaal hastened proceedings.
Enthusiastic, educated men, such as Reitz, Te Water, and the students of
the Theological Seminary at Stellenbosch felt patriotic desires wildly
coursing in their veins, but the honour of formulating a definite
plan of organisation belongs to the Rev. S. J. du Toit, who then edited
_De Patriot_ newspaper at the Paarl. _De Transvaalse Oorlag_ was
published by Messrs. D. T. du Toit & Co. of the Paarl in the year 1881.
It was the retrocession of the Transvaal under the direction of Mr.
Gladstone in the last-mentioned year that enabled the Bond to assume a
very definite shape, and to obtain immense and widespread power.
Carl Borckenhagen, editor of the _Bloemfontein Express_, and F. W.
Reitz, who succeeded Sir J. Brand as President of the Orange Free State,
and was subsequently State Secretary of the Transvaal, earnestly joined
the Bond. The former was a German, whose honest and intense hatred of
England was apparent in all his leading articles, while the life-dream
of the latter was to see the establishment of the Dutch Republican
United States of South Africa.
Branches of the Bond were formed in the Cape Colony, the Transvaal, and
the Orange Free State, and in 1882 the first Congress of the Bond was
held at Graaff Reinet. A very astute and profoundly able plotter was
already at work in the person of Mr. J. H. Hofmeyr, who had started "The
Farmers' Protection Society" with the expressed purpose of watching over
Dutch farmers, and stirring them up to take an interest in politics.
Hitherto the Dutch bucolic mind had lain fallow. It was now to be
cultivated in order that it might produce fruit at parliamentary
elections, and, as a more powerful means to that end, "The Farmers'
Protection Society" was amalgamated with the Bond in the year 1883. Mr.
J. H. Hofmeyr then assumed the reins of management, and, as a Member in
the House of Assembly for Stellenbosch, began to wield a power which at
last developed into that of a colonial Earl of Warwick, or king-maker.
Ministries were formed at his bidding, and cabinets accepted his
control.
Certainly Mr. Hofmeyr very wisely and astutely modified the ostensible
objects of the Bond, and he was helped to do so by the fact that the
Hollander party in the Government at Pretoria became stronger than the
Africanders. Indeed, the Rev. S. J. Du Toit, the founder of the Bond,
was worsted in the Transvaal by the men from the old country. But to
make up for this, their march in the Cape Colony was so triumphant that
the President of the Bond at the Paarl Congress in June 1900 was able to
glory in the fact that since 1884 the Cape Colony had been ruled under
responsible government almost exclusively by the aid of the Africander
Bond. In 1885 there were twenty-five Bond Members of Parliament who held
the balance of power, and there can be no doubt that Sir Thomas
Upington, Sir Gordon Sprigg, and Mr. Rhodes sought and accepted their
support.
When Mr. Rhodes became Prime Minister in 1890 he was in harmony with the
Bond, but certainly did not sympathise with its real object. Each party
masked its idea, and each party thought that it was successfully using
the other for its own objects. Objects diametrically opposite: Mr.
Rhodes desired the supremacy of the British Imperial Power, and the
Africander party really aimed at the formation of a Republican South
Africa.
The Bond, says Mr. Theo. Schreiner ("The Africander Bond," &c., p. 29)
was for many years the only organised political body in the Cape Colony,
and it exercised a political tyranny which crushed all true political
life and thought under its iron heel. While it deliberately refused to
take the reins of Government, it constantly aimed at increasing the
number of its Members in Parliament, and at making it impossible for any
Ministry to exist without its support. Arguing apparently from facts,
Sir Hercules Robinson, in his farewell speech at Cape Town in April
1889, went so far as to say that there was no longer any permanent place
in South Africa for direct Imperial rule.
A Bond Congress was held at Kimberley in 1891, when Mr. Rhodes made a
very bold but unsuccessful attempt to get the Dutch to join with the
English of the Cape Colony against the iniquitous rule and anti-British
policy of the South African Republic. Another Congress was held at Port
Elizabeth, when there was an attempt made to capture the Bond by means
of British friendship. Indeed the changed attitude of this Association
deceived many people, as under the extremely able leadership of Mr.
Hofmeyr it assumed the position of a great benevolent society, which
desired all Colonists, both English and Dutch, to join it, in order to
help forward the progress of South Africa. Nevertheless, it is very
significant that the Rev. S. J. du Toit lost the high position he had
previously held in consequence of his supposed anti-Transvaal
sympathies, and at the same time the influence of the South African
Republic greatly increased. "Blood is thicker than water." The close
alliance of sympathy more and more knit together the Dutchmen of the
States and of the Colonies.
But the Jameson Raid of 1895 removed every estrangement. Just before
this event President Kruger showed his hand by venturing on a dangerous
step, which really meant an open breach of the Convention. He closed the
drifts, or fords, by which goods carried on the Cape and Natal railways
entered the Transvaal, intending by this act to force traffic over his
own Delagoa Bay line. He was informed by a joint ultimatum from the
Imperial Government and the Cape Colony that his action could not be
permitted, and he rescinded his declaration.
It is not necessary to give a history of the Jameson Raid. No event
since Majuba had so much played into the hands of the party in favour of
an "Africander Natie." Cromwell's words when General Leslie's army left
its strong position, "The Lord has delivered them into our hands,"
clearly expressed the sentiment which on this occasion animated the
minds of Bond members. The Transvaal enormously increased its armaments,
preparations for war virtually commenced, and the entire sympathy of the
Africander party in the Cape Colony went out to their brethren of the
South African Republic.
Mr. Hofmeyr was a leader who thoroughly deserved the title of "the
mole," as he metaphorically burrowed under the political platform, and
concealed his methods and aims with great subtlety. He saw the danger of
pursuing openly the programme expressed in the motto of his party, and
clothed the ideas of Africanderism in a constitutional garb. However,
when considering the real aim of the Bond, we shall prove that this
association never abandoned its original programme.
It must be admitted that, in some respects, there is an analogy between
Daniel O'Connell, as leader of the Irish National party, and J. H.
Hofmeyr, the "Ons Jan" of Africanderism. Both ostensibly were in favour
of working only on constitutional lines, and both were defeated by
extremists, who saw no other way of obtaining success than by recourse
to arms. In the case of the Young Ireland party, with such leaders as
John Michell, Smith O'Brien, and Gavan Duffy, a very futile insurrection
was quickly crushed; while, so far as J. H. Hofmeyr was concerned, a
much greater conflagration resulted. The great fire was really lit by
him--at least he constantly added fuel to it--and when too late made
futile efforts to extinguish the flames. O'Connell was much more honest,
as he openly opposed the Young Irelanders, and retired broken-hearted
from the arena.
Hofmeyr undoubtedly did not raise a finger to stop the furious onward
march of his party. _Ons Land_ indeed encouraged this movement, and the
editor, Mr. Malun, was completely under the great leader's influence.
Certainly at the end, as will be seen if the correspondence ever comes
to light, Hofmeyr tried to stop the mad career of the Republics. No one
saw more clearly than he did that it was absolute folly to fight the
British nation, but his interference came too late.
O'Connell fought more straightforwardly. Never for a moment did he admit
that the policy of force was justifiable; while, on the contrary,
Hofmeyr had not the moral courage to step publicly into the arena and
denounce it. He was always occult in his mode of fighting.
Unfortunately, in posing as a friend, he became the most dangerous enemy
of his own people.
The policy of the Africander Bond in the Cape Colony pandered to mean
interests and base prejudices. The corn farmers and brandy producers
were banded together in an unholy compact. Heavy duties of five
shillings per hundred pounds on flour and half-a-crown on wheat were
levied, while excise was abolished on spirits made from the grape, in
order that members of the Bond who grew cereals and made very bad brandy
might be benefited. The shameful result was that bread became dear and
bad alcohol cheap. As a Nemesis the producers got into the hands of
middlemen, and their condition was rather injured than improved. In the
case of both wines and spirits, careless, unscientific methods were
generally adopted, quantity was preferred to quality, and in many cases
acetous fermentation resulted. Although spirit produced from the grape
paid not a farthing of excise, and was carried at a non-paying rate on
the railways, it was so miserably full of fusel oil and dangerous in
character as to be discarded generally by the white population, and sent
broadcast among the aboriginal natives for their degradation,
demoralisation, and destruction. In a shameful manner Mr. Hofmeyr and
the Bond politicians persistently resisted every proposed law for the
restriction of the sale of bad alcohol among aboriginal natives, and
indeed by insidious methods did all in their power to remove every
barrier between the native and the deadly poison made carelessly in
thousands of "pot stills" in the Dutch districts of the Western
Province.
At the same time the true Phariseeism of this people was demonstrated by
their fanatical observance of the Lord's Day, which they styled the
Sabbath, and their absurd opposition to any Sunday trains, even when
absolutely necessary in general public interests. Mr. Merriman, in one
of his saner moments, reprobated this hypocrisy.
[Illustration: Photo: Maull & Fox, London.
SIR H. J. GOOLD-ADAMS, C.B., C.M.G
Lieutenant-Governor of Orange River Colony.]
In South Africa the Native Laws Commission, which comprised such men as
Sir Thomas Upington, Sir Thomas Scanlen, and Sir Jacob Barry, took
evidence in a very complete form in the early eighties, and as a result
reported unanimously in favour of prohibiting the sale of intoxicants to
the aboriginal natives. Accordingly by Act of Parliament this
recommendation was given full effect to in the Transkeian Territories.
Subsequently the Drink Commission reported in favour of this prohibition
being extended to natives throughout the Colony. In Bechuanaland and
Basutoland, as well as in Natal, the law was adopted long ago, and
invariably worked well; nevertheless, to the shame of the Bond
organisation, it persistently preferred Mammon to God, and in the
strongest manner opposed any legislation whose result would be to save
the black man from destruction. Eventually an Act introduced by Sir
James Rose Innes was maimed before it was allowed to pass, so that
licensing Boards were only empowered to pass restrictive regulations on
the sale of alcohol to the coloured races "short of total prohibition."
During the entire term of Bond rule in the Cape Colony not a sixpence
could be obtained for the encouragement of emigration from the United
Kingdom to the Cape Colony--nor would any land be ever granted for the
purpose. "Africa for the Africanders" has a very real and exact meaning,
and this was shown to demonstration when even the petty vote for
granting assisted passages to domestic servants and artisans was
objected to and refused. These people might in many cases come from
England, and therefore must be shut out.
The subtlety and diplomacy of the Bond were evinced in voting a grant
for the British Navy, and Mr. Hofmeyr took many opportunities of posing
as a loyal subject, but, as we shall prove in the context, the one great
underlying principle of the organisation was to obtain the mastery in
South Africa. All nationalities were invited to join. Africa must be
made great by a union of all its people, but those who read between the
lines and ascertained the real opinions of those who were guiding the
movement knew perfectly well that although the Imperial power might be
allowed at first to be a _faineant_ king, the Mayor of the Palace with
real authority was to be the people of Dutch extraction--the
Africanders--throughout Southern Africa.
We now come to the last days before the war, when Lord Milner could have
been easily checkmated if Mr. Hofmeyr had been able to influence the
Republican Governments. As every one knew, Mr. Kruger had positively
promised equal franchise rights to British subjects at the retrocession
of the Transvaal, and this promise was shamefully broken. In a
constitutional manner the Uitlanders vainly endeavoured to obtain
redress, and now appealed to the Imperial Government. The High
Commissioner merely did his evident duty, when at the Bloemfontein
Conference he insisted that at least a portion of the franchise rights
promised should be given. No doubt Mr. Hofmeyr would have seen his
opportunity here, and have consented in such a manner, and with such a
purpose, as to really render British interference nugatory, but the
Dutch Republicans had now the bit between their teeth. They were the
Lord's people, they had made all their preparations, and were perfectly
sure of victory. Mr. Kruger himself could not now stop the war, and the
astounding ultimatum came forth from the little Republic to the great
Empire: "Recall your troops and send no more, or we will punish you." If
this gage had not been taken up the United Kingdom would have been
forced to take a back seat as a third-class power among the nations of
the world.
Having referred to the origin and growth of the Africander party, we
must now consider its aims. It must be admitted that its originators
were perfectly candid. We find them declaring in _De Patriot_ in 1882,
when referring to Confederation, that "There is just one hindrance, and
that is the British flag. Let them take that away, and within a year the
confederation under the free Africander flag will be established. The
British must just have Simon's Bay as a naval and military station on
the road to India, and give over all the rest of Africa to the
Africanders.... It is we on top or they on top. They must be under or we
under.... Two things are wanted, artillery for the Transvaal ... to make
their own ammunition and to be well supplied with cannon. Now that the
war against the English Government is over (at Majuba Hill), the war
against the English language must begin. By Anglifying the girls they
infect the whole family life with the English speech."
We must now put into the box witnesses of a very important character
whose testimony, so far as the aims of the Bond are concerned, is
perfectly unexceptionable. These witnesses are Mr. Burgers, President of
the South African Republic, Sir John Brand, President of the Orange Free
State, Mr. Reitz, State Secretary of the South African Republic and
previously President of the Orange Free State, and Mr. Steyn,
Attorney-General and subsequently President of the Orange Free State. In
1875 President Burgers stated at a meeting held in Holland to consider
the Delagoa Bay railway scheme, that he hoped to see a New Holland eight
millions strong in South Africa, whence England shall have been
expelled. It was President Brand who said, "Bartle Frere dreams of
United South Africa under the British flag; and so do I, but not under
the same flag." And when conducting a controversy with Kruger on the
subject of a Customs Union, Sir John Brand, disgusted with treachery,
cried aloud, "The Bond seeks to raise a Republican flag in a country
with which we are at peace."[4]
Mr. Theo. Schreiner, whose honesty and truthfulness no man in South
Africa will deny, furnishes us with a circumstantial account of an
interview between himself and Mr. Reitz in the early eighties.[5] Then
Mr. Reitz was a judge at Bloemfontein, and was one of that band of
Africander patriots whose aspiration and conduct remind us naturally of
the aims, objects, and aspirations of the Young Ireland party under
Smith O'Brien. After in vain trying to enlist Mr. Schreiner as a
recruit, Mr. Reitz asked him to state the reason of his refusal. The
reply was, "Because the ultimate object aimed at was the overthrow of
British power and the expulsion of the British flag from South Africa."
"Well, what if it is so?" was the rejoinder, to which Mr. Schreiner
replied, "You don't suppose, do you, that the flag is going to disappear
without a tremendous struggle and fight?" "Well," said Mr. Reitz, "I
suppose not, but what of that?"
Mr. Steyn, of the Orange Free State, made the following statement to the
Rev. W. Tees, Presbyterian Minister in Durban:--
"Great Britain has been completely taken by surprise."
"Sir, this has been preparing since the year 1884."[6]
"In both States?" asked the clergyman.
"Yes," was the reply, "in both, and in the Colony also. The Transvaal
has been the arsenal, but those in the know in the Free State and in the
Colony have worked in unison with Kruger. The object was to oust the
British from South Africa, but it was not intended to do it all at once.
The first step was the consolidation of the two Republics as a Sovereign
International State, and later on an Africander rising at the right
moment."
Mr. Tees then asked a very pertinent question. "Then do you mean to say
that when President Kruger attended the Bloemfontein Conference he knew
perfectly well that the proceedings were a farce, and that he really
meant to fight?"
Mr. Steyn's reply was "Yes."
At a conference between the Governments of the South African Republic
and Orange Free States held in 1887[7] relative to railways, we find Mr.
Kruger declaring: "If you hook on to the Colony you cut our throat....
Let us speak frankly; we are not going to be dependent on England." Mr.
Wolmarans, following, declared: "We have had much experience of her
Majesty's Government, and we will and must shake ourselves free. We are
still insufficiently prepared. We wish to get to the sea, especially
with an eye to future complications--you know our secret policy."
Subsequently the blunt soldier, General Joubert, said on the occasion of
an Uitlander complaining to him of the constant breach of Article 14 of
the 1884 Convention providing equality of treatment for the Uitlanders:
"Equality! We don't want equality! We want to see who is to be boss in
South Africa."
Apropos to this subject it is not uninteresting to note from the debates
in the Volksraad of the South African Republic (see the _Johannesburg
Star_ of August 17, 1895) that the laws of the Transvaal were intended
to make the acquisition of the franchise by Uitlanders morally
impossible, and that at the end of one debate Mr. Otto merely became the
mouthpiece of the Burghers when he said, without any rebuke from the
chairman, "Come on and fight. I say, come on and have it out; and the
sooner the better."
We must now put in documentary evidence to prove the real aims and
objects of the Africander Bond. The declaration of the Rev. S. J. Du
Toit, Judge Reitz, and Carl Borckenhagen is perfectly explicit. They
declare that "The object of the Africander Bond is the establishment of
a South African Nationality through the cultivation of a true love of
this our fatherland. This object must be attained by the promotion and
defence of the national language, and by Africanders, both politically
and socially, making their power to be felt as a nation."
After the retrocession of the Transvaal the "Africander Natie" took a
very definite shape, as we find the _Patriot_ newspaper declaring that
"God's hand has been visible in a more marked manner than ever before
seen since the days of the children of Israel. Proud England is
compelled to give the Boers back their land after they had been defeated
by a mere handful." The little respect which Africanders entertained for
British troops had entirely departed.
One of the articles of the Bond programme of principles contained the
following words: "In itself acknowledging no single form of Government
as the only suitable form, and whilst acknowledging the form of
Government existing at present, it (the Bond) means that the aim of our
national development must be a United South Africa under its own flag."
With the subtlety which always distinguished the party, a change was
made in this some years afterwards.
The language of the Bond organ, _De Patriot_, is perfectly explicit, and
shows very clearly the spirit and intentions of the party. The English
must be boycotted. There must be no English shops, signboards,
advertisements, or bookkeepers. Manufacture of munitions of war must be
started in the two Republics. "At Heidelberg there are already 4000
cartridges made daily, and a few skilful Africanders have begun to make
shells too. That is right; so we must become a nation." It must be
considered a disgrace to speak English, and war must be waged in the
Church against that language. "It is the Dutch Reformed Church. What has
England to do with it?" In family life no quarter was to be given.
[Illustration: THE LOW VELDT FROM BOTHA'S HILL
Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen]
As we have already said, the junction of the Farmers' Protection Society
with the Bond exercised a moderating influence, but the spirit,
intentions, and object of the party remained the same, although Mr.
J. H. Hofmeyr attempted, in a manner as astute as it was dangerous, to
unite the Dutch and English people in South Africa in a common
antagonism to Great Britain's power, influence, and presence. Even Mr.
Merriman saw through this trick, as he declared in a speech delivered at
Grahamstown in 1885. "It is now the cue of the Bond to pretend to be
loyal, and if it were not painful it would be ridiculous to hear the
editor of _De Zuid Afrikaan_ cheering the Queen, and to hear Du Toit
praying for her while resolutions are passed round to the branches in
direct opposition to the honour of England.... Each one of you will have
to make up his mind whether he is prepared to see the colony remain a
part of the British Empire, which carries with it obligations as well as
privileges, or whether he is prepared to obey the dictates of the Bond.
From the very first time, some years ago, when first the poison began to
be distilled in this country, I felt that it must come to this: Was
England or the Transvaal to be the paramount force in South Africa?...
What could they think of the objects of the Bond when they found Judge
Reitz advocating a Republic of South Africa under one flag?... No one
who wishes well to the British Government could have read the leading
articles of the _Zuid Afrikaan_ and _Express_ and _De Patriot_, in
expounding the Bond principles, without seeing that the maintenance of
law and order under the British Crown and the object they have in view
are absolutely different things.... My quarrel with the Bond is that it
stirs up race difference. Its main object is to make the South African
Republic the paramount power in South Africa."
To do justice to the Bond, we must quote Mr. Theron, their secretary,
who is reported by the _South African News_ of May 5, 1900, to have
said:--
"One other question may be asked, 'What is the object of the Bond?' My
reply is, its object, its only object, is expressed in sec. 2 of the
General Constitution, which is worded as follows: 'The nearest object of
the Bond is the formation of a South African Nationality by means of
union and co-operation, as a preparation for the ultimate object, a
united South Africa. The Bond tries to attain this object by
constitutional means, giving to respective governments and legislatures
all the support they are entitled to, and respecting everybody's
rights.'" This was perfectly understood. It was a Dutch Nationality and
a Dutch Republican South Africa that was aimed at, and the context fully
proved this assertion when the vast majority of the Bond party fought
against England, either as belligerents in the Republics or as
rebels--active and passive--within the Cape Colony. Nine out of every
ten ministers of the Dutch Reformed Church were rebels, according to
the testimony of one of their own number--the Rev. Mr. Vlok of
Piquetberg. In such circumstances it is impossible to come to any other
conclusion than that the departure from the original, straightforward
declaration of the aims of the Bond was nothing but a diplomatic effort
to throw dust in the eyes of the enemy.
Certainly such a man as Mr. Cronwright Schreiner was in no way deceived
by this attitude, as we find him saying in 1893[8] that the Africander
Bond is anti-English in its aims; its officers and its language are
Dutch, and it is striving to gain such power as absolutely to control
the Cape Parliament. It had "paralysed our political life." "In fact,"
he goes on to say, "the Bond has sacrificed the welfare of the country
for years to the selfish attainment of one object, namely, the supremacy
of the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of the Cape Colony, regardless of the
rights of others; the imagined good of an ignorant clique of the Dutch
has been preferred to the good of the country. These men must not have
power; they are wholly unfit to have it. The Bond is a body striving
solely for its own benighted ends, and founded and conducted on race
lines." This was a correct judgment passed from the English Cape Colony
farmer's point of view; men who, quite unlike the pro-Boers in England,
perfectly understood their subject by means of adequate evidence
obtained on the spot, as well as by bitter personal experience.
Can anything be more significant than the following facts. The Hon. Mr.
Bellingan, a Dutch member of the Legislative Council, in the session
immediately previous to the war is reported by the _Cape Times_ to have
said: "If the policy of annexation were adhered to, they (the
Africanders) would take advantage of England's calamity;" while the Bond
paper, _Ons Land_, reports the honourable member as saying that when the
Queen came to die and storms burst over the empire the Africanders would
not side with England if the Republics were annexed. Then the member
himself, in a letter to the _Cape Times_, declared that what he said
was: "He saw difficulty for the British Empire after the death of our
beloved Queen. By giving the Republicans their independence England
could reckon upon them as friends, but if the Republics were annexed she
could not do so."
The Bond undoubtedly during many years prepared the materials for a
conflagration. The great never-dying, ever-present aspiration was fully
expressed in its motto, "Africa for the Africanders." It was nothing if
not diplomatic, and professed very loudly a loyalty which showed itself
in its true colours when the Bond party was in power just prior to the
war. Then we find its aims exhibited by the Bond party in Parliament,
backed up by the Bond Congress, fighting most strenuously against the
absurdly lenient provisions of the Treason Bill.
As Mr. Theo. Schreiner aptly says, "Rebellion in fact is no rebellion in
the eyes of the Bond so long as it be in accord with the Africander
national ideal." The ministers of their political party allowed
ammunition and guns to be carried to the Republics over the railways of
the Colony in immense quantities, and the W. P. Schreiner ministry was
split up rather than consent to the very mild punishment of deprivation
of the franchise being inflicted on rebels. Then came the war, when a
large majority of the Bond party were either active or passive rebels.
But no one more clearly points out the real objects of the Bond than Mr.
Reitz, one of its original founders, and to the end one of its principal
leaders. He does not hesitate to say in his brochure entitled "A Century
of Wrong," largely circulated in more than one language over the
continent of Europe:--
"May the hope which glowed in our hearts during 1880, and which buoyed
us up during that struggle, burn on steadily. May it prove a beacon of
light in our path, invincibly moving onwards through blood and through
tears until it leads us to a real union of South Africa.... Whether the
result be victory or death, liberty will assuredly rise in South Africa
... just as freedom dawned over the United States of America a little
more than a century ago. Then from Zambesi to Simonstown it will be
'AFRICA FOR THE AFRICANDER.'"
A Bond object-lesson was really to be seen in a practical manner in the
South African Republic under the rule of Dutch Africanders. There indeed
the Transvaal portion of Africa was clearly ruled for one section of the
population--the Africander--to the utter exclusion of the rights of the
English population largely in a majority within Johannesburg. There was
an election system leading to the corrupt and unjust rule of Boer Raads
and a Boer oligarchy. Protection, Concessions, the Master and Servants
Acts were all managed in accordance with Africander ideas. Bond views of
native policy were carried out in such a way that no coloured person
however civilised could vote, nor hold title to fixed property nor trade
freely, nor even marry as white people might. All this found
encouragement in the Cape Colony, and eventually the absurd fiction of
Boers fighting for liberty in the Transvaal was proclaimed as a fact
over all Europe, although literally they commenced a war in which they
felt sure of success for the purpose of subverting liberty and obtaining
complete freedom to carry on government by a section of the people
purely for the interests of a section--the Africanders--ignoring
altogether equal rights for all other men.
When we consider clearly and definitely all the facts, remember that
history repeats itself and that the Africanders are profoundly tenacious
of their political opinions and have proved themselves to be a people
who are able to wait, can we not see at once how desirable it is to
suspend temporarily the constitution of the Cape Colony? The body
politic requires a physician. No one better understands the subject or
is more competent to prescribe than Lord Milner. Why do we not take his
advice? Nothing is more significant than the fact that in the Cape
Colony two years ago heated parliamentary debates and a violent
political agitation, following immediately upon the suppression of the
first rebellion, were in their turn succeeded by a second rebellion more
ruinous than the former one.
In asking for suspension there is no idea of defection from the
principle of responsible government. The Imperial system requires local
independence, and in due course this will be extended to all parts of
South Africa. A necessary interregnum is required for purposes of true
liberty and sound rule, in order that breakdown may be prevented and
true constitutionalism take the place of the tyranny of any section of
the population. The Imperial Government is no step-mother, and the
federation of Southern Africa will doubtless be on similar lines to
those of the Canadian Dominion. Certainly no system will be forced upon
the people contrary to their wishes, but the resurrection of Bond power
in the Cape Colony would absolutely prevent any well-considered and
statesmanlike plan, in which all men would receive fair play utterly
regardless of race extraction. In fact the British and the Africander
Bond theories are diametrically opposed. The first makes every civilised
man equal from the Zambesi to Cape Town, the other specially and always
means "Africa for the Africanders."
Heated discussions in Parliament, and the intense excitement connected
with contested elections, cannot but accentuate race hatred in the Cape
Colony. Surely South Africa should have a rest. As in the Transvaal and
in the Orange Colony, so at the Cape, the great healer, time, ought to
be allowed to do its work.
But perhaps the strongest, because the most practical, argument in
favour of "suspension" is based upon the fact that a re-distribution Act
is absolutely necessary if fair play is to be bestowed on all
nationalities, and the reign of the Bond be not allowed to again become
supreme. The suspensionists are really fighting for liberty against the
rule of a section. Their motto is that of the Union Jack--"Equal rights
for all"--whereas, as we know, the Africanders will in the future, as in
the past, demand "Africa for the Africanders." No delusion is greater
than to imagine that they will change their purpose. Their plan is to
adhere to their principles, consolidate their party, and wait for an
opportunity. After spending more than two hundred millions of money, and
much more than this--40,000 noble lives--for the sake of upholding
British supremacy in Southern Africa, nothing should be done even to
risk a recurrence of the trouble. This certainly was the opinion of Lord
Milner, and of the great majority of the British people in the Cape
Colony. The advice now referred to was not taken, and history must
record the result.
The real aims and objects of the Bond are as decipherable to-day as they
were three years or ten years ago. The people who belong to it are
thoroughly tenacious of these opinions, and to do them justice, make no
pretence of having changed them. At the Paarl the popular General Botha
has just declared that they are not vanquished, retain their traditions,
and will yet conquer. They look with unutterable scorn on the men who
joined the National Scouts, and entertain feelings of coldness and
dislike for those who did not join the enemy either actively or
passively. In the great Dutch Church of Cape Town, the Republican
Generals received an unanimous ovation, and were carried shoulder high,
in triumph, from the edifice. The truth is that the Bond exists, remains
extremely powerful, and is only waiting and watching for an opportunity.
British rule is now comparatively easy both in the Transvaal and Orange
Colonies. Effective progress is being made under the rule of wise and
firm Governments; but it is in the Cape Colony, where a treacherous and
powerful enemy is allowed to plot with impunity, that the real danger to
British Imperial interests lies.
How history repeats itself! When the fatuous policy of abandoning 35,000
square miles of excellent territory styled the Orange River Sovereignty
was pursued in 1853, there was only one man in the House of Commons who
opposed it,[9] and subsequent circumstances amply justified his
judgment. In 1902, Mr. Chamberlain would have found it absolutely
impossible to obtain a majority in the House of Commons favourable to
suspension of the Cape Colony Constitution. What is now to be done? Our
answer is, "Accept with loyalty the decision of the Government, and show
by wise moderation that we are most desirous to be friends with our
fellow-subjects of Dutch extraction. No recriminations nor abuse should
proceed from our side. Nothing will please us better than to find the
Bond abandoned and all men cordially uniting as one free people under
the British flag. If this be not done--and masses of the people have
already declared that it will not--we will have to fight the Bond again
at elections, on public platforms, and in the press, as well as in
Parliament. It would have been well for both nationalities if this could
have been avoided, but this is now impossible."
LET GOD DEFEND THE RIGHT.
FOOTNOTES:
[3] See "From Boer to Boer and Englishman," by Paul M. Botha. London:
Hugh Rees, 1901.
[4] See _Macmillan's Magazine_, May 1900.
[5] This is published in full in the _Weekly Times_ of December 1, 1899,
and is fully referred to in Wilmot's "History of Our Own Times in South
Africa." See also "The Truth about the Transvaal" and various other
publications.
[6] See _Daily News_ of May 10, 1900.
[7] Reported in the _Times_ of May 24, 1900.
[8] Paper read at the Cradock Farmers' Association in October 1893.
[9] This was Mr. Norton. See the dramatic manner in which this is
referred to in the second volume of "The Life of Sir Harry Smith."
RHODESIA
SOME PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS
BY E. F. KNIGHT
_Author of "Where Three Empires Meet"; "The Cruise of the 'Falcon,'"
&c._
In all the long romantic story of the making of the British Empire, no
episode more strongly appeals to the imagination than the foundation of
Rhodesia. Well is it named Rhodesia; for the history of Great Britain's
acquisitions on either side of the Zambesi, the 750,000 square miles of
magnificent territories which lie under the sway of the British South
Africa Company, is the history of the Englishman, Cecil John Rhodes: had
it not been for whose foresight, statesmanship, untiring vigilance,
determined but patient endeavour for years towards the accomplishment of
his mighty schemes, the South African Plateau, with its gold-bearing
reefs, its vast tracts of rich arable and pastoral lands, would have
fallen into the hands of one or other of the foreign Powers which keenly
contested with him its possession.
It is a trite saying that when the time is ripe for great doings on the
part of a nation the necessary man invariably appears. It is a saying
hardly warranted by fact, for many a golden opportunity have nations,
Great Britain as often as others, lost because the right man was not
forthcoming. Happily it has not been so in South Africa. It is almost
certain that, had it not been for the accident of Mr. Rhodes seeking the
South African shores for his health when a lad, the Germans and the
Boers would have cut off the Cape Colony from all possibility of
expansion to the north. Those Powers had even found their right men. The
Transvaal had her stubborn Kruger; Germany had her shrewd and energetic
agents and explorers preparing the way to annexation in different
portions of the Dark Continent; while even Portugal had her D'Andrade, a
man who displayed much of the spirit and enterprise of the Portuguese
discoverers and conquerors of olden days. Cecil Rhodes took his place in
South African affairs but just in time. The Transvaal War had been
followed by a period of extraordinary apathy both in England and in the
Cape Colony. No one seemed to care in the least what became of the
territory lying beyond our then limits. At home men were sick of the
very name of South Africa. Many would have gladly abandoned all our
possessions about the Cape of Storms, and abdicated an Empire which
seemed to bring us nothing but futile wars, disaster, and disgrace. It
was at this critical period that Mr. Rhodes came to the front to save
our supremacy in South Africa--too late, indeed, to save for us much
that should have been ours; too late, for example, to secure our
sovereignty over Namaqualand and Damaraland, territories which had been
long recognised as being within Britain's sphere of influence, which
formerly had been annexed to the Cape, but which latterly had been
totally neglected both by the Imperial and Cape Governments, so that the
watchful Germans were left at liberty, first to establish their trading
missions, and finally to assert their sovereignty over those extensive
regions.
[Illustration: FIVE-MILE SPRUIT ON MELSETTER ROAD, RHODESIA]
The richness and beauty of the highlands, extending over an immense area
both north and south of the Zambesi, had for many years been known to
both English and Boer travellers. Mr. Rhodes, in his early days at
Kimberley, met many an adventurous wanderer who had come from that
wonderful region, and their glowing tales perhaps first inspired in him
that ambitious dream of the creation of a great new British colony that
should include all the finest country in South and Central Africa. As
far back as 1882, having commenced to take an active part in Cape
politics, Mr. Rhodes took the initial steps towards the attainment of
the one absorbing purpose of his life.
[Illustration: A HUNTER'S WAGGON, RHODESIA
Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen]
Of fascinating interest is the story--a story for the most part yet
untold to the world--of Cecil Rhodes' long struggle with the Boers and
Portuguese who attempted to keep the Empire-builder out of the Promised
Land, and of his frequent forestallings of further German expansion at
our expense. The first, the most critical and anxious period of all, was
occupied with the contest for the very gate of the country, the
right-of-way to the north, which we were so nearly losing, and without
which our advance would have been hopelessly barred. The only outlet to
the north from the Cape Colony lay through Bechuanaland, a vast region
that was divided into several independent native kingdoms, and hemmed in
between the Germans, then advancing from the west, and the Transvaal
Boers on the east. This gateway to the north has been likened to the
neck of a bottle; the narrow neck which, once passed, opens out into the
broad and precious Zambesia. Kruger, clever and obstinate, commenced his
career of attempted expansion by seizing this neck with the intention of
thus cutting us off completely from the north. It was his ambition to
extend the Boer rule westward to the German line, eastward to Delagoa
Bay and the Indian Ocean, and northwards over the steppes of Zambesia.
Pretorius had declared that the Transvaal had no boundary on the west,
unless it were the Atlantic Ocean. The first struggle therefore between
Rhodes and Kruger was for this vital point of vantage, the neck. Had
Kruger grasped it the British flag would never have floated on the
northern plateau, the Boers and Germans would have joined hands--there
had been a talk of a German Protectorate over the Transvaal--and theirs,
not ours, would have been the splendid prize. And what is more, seeing
what a vast conspiracy had been organised against us, we should probably
have lost the Cape Colony itself: the foundations of our Empire would
have been shaken. Immense was the threatening peril to which we shut our
eyes. The Transvaal War had left the Cape Colonists in a distinctly
anti-British frame of mind. Disgusted at the follies of the Imperial
Government, even those of British blood sympathised with the Transvaal
Boers, and had no objection to the north falling into the hands of the
Dutch Republicans. Indeed, the general feeling at the Cape at that time
appears to have been republican. Cecil Rhodes had not only to
out-manoeuvre Germany, the Transvaal, and Portugal, but had also to
overcome the opposition of colonial prejudice, and the complete
indifference of the English to all affairs South African. He stood
almost alone, and had to create a party for himself. Not only man of
action, but diplomatist and opportunist in the best sense of the word,
he played his game with wondrous skill, and succeeded at last in winning
over the reluctant colonists to his views. The very Africander Bond
became his ally for a time.
[Illustration: CAPE TO CAIRO RAILWAY. LAYING THE RAILS]
That struggle for the neck of Bechuanaland is an interesting story that
cannot be told here. First Kruger attempted to establish himself in
Mankoroane's territory. Mankoroane, to protect himself, offered to cede
his country to the Cape Colony, which point-blank refused it. Rhodes, in
1882, went himself to the chieftain, and so arranged matters that the
Imperial Government found itself compelled to take over the district.
Thwarted at this point, Kruger attempted to cut us off further to the
north, and sent his agents to establish the freebooting republics of
Goshen and Stellaland. Again Rhodes checked him. Going himself to
Stellaland, he persuaded the Boers in possession to accept the British
flag on the condition that our Government ratified their titles to the
land they had occupied. The Warren expedition, despatched at last in
consequence of the strong representations of Rhodes and his far-seeing
ally, Sir Hercules Robinson, the then High Commissioner, resulted in the
expulsion of the Boer freebooters from Montsioa's country, where
Mafeking now stands, and the extension of our protectorate over the
whole of Bechuanaland. Then Rhodes arranged for the taking over of
Khama's land, and the gateway to the north was won. Foiled again, and
thus hemmed in on the west, the stubborn Kruger sent his very able agent
Grobler to Lobengula to obtain from him a Matabele concession to the
Transvaal. Rhodes found that it was hopeless to attempt to bring the
Imperial Government to a sense of the danger of the position, so now,
before it was too late, he had to act promptly for himself. He sent
Maguire Thomson and Rudd to Lobengula to obtain a concession from him
before Grobler had carried out his mission. They were successful; the
Governor ratified the concession. Dr. Jameson and Dr. Harris went to
Matabeleland to deliver to the king the stipulated arms and ammunition;
and despite the bitter opposition of the Cape statesman and consistently
anti-British Englishman, Mr. Merriman, the deed of concession was
sealed, and its validity was recognised by the Government. And thus in
1888, after years of patient endeavour, Cecil Rhodes at last had made
the way clear for the realisation of his mighty scheme.
The sinews of war had now to be found; and Rhodes, in anticipation,
before the granting of the concession, had made his provisions. First he
had brought about the amalgamation of the diamond-mining companies, and
then, as head of the great De Beers Corporation with its rent-roll of
four millions sterling a year, he, in 1887, effected the alteration of
the De Beers Trust Deed by a liquidation of the Company, so as to give
the De Beers directors power to apply the Company's funds to outside
objects, that is, to the development of the North. Messrs. Barnato and
Beit agreed to this on the condition of being made life governors, and
ever since loyally co-operated with Rhodes in the execution of his
scheme.
The next step was the granting of the charter by the British Government
in 1889, and the creation of the British South Africa Company. Then
Rhodes sent out the famous Pioneer Expedition to Mashonaland, and the
white men established themselves in Rhodesia. It must be borne in mind
that at that time and for years afterwards Rhodes had to be ever closely
watching and cunningly circumventing the German Boers and Portuguese,
who spared no effort to keep us from the north. Bismarck's agent, Count
Pffeil, was sent on a secret mission to South Africa and all but
succeeded in anticipating Rhodes, and in winning for Germany a broad
strip of territory that would have connected her eastern and western
possessions, so forming a bar across Africa from ocean to ocean that
would have effectually shut us out. Then there was the Boer trek into
Mashonaland in 1891, when the Rhodesians guarded the drifts against the
invaders--a scheme of Kruger's that was frustrated without the shedding
of blood. Even when the Pioneer Expedition was on its way, the
energetic Portuguese D'Andrade was distributing the flags of his country
among the chiefs, and attempting to get concessions that would cut
Mashonaland off from Matabeleland. To defeat his plans Rhodes entered
into a treaty with Umtassa, and obtained the Gazaland concession from
Gungunyana, a concession which would have extended the Chartered
Company's possessions to the shores of the Indian Ocean had not Lord
Salisbury refused to ratify it and acknowledged the claims of Portugal.
Then again in 1889 Rhodes, whose Intelligence Department always supplied
him in good time with information as to the doings of his rivals,
hearing that Germany intended to cut us off at the head of Lake Nyassa,
secretly sent Mr. H. H. Johnson to hoist British flags at Port Abercorn
on Lake Tanganyika and other places, as proof of our occupation. The
Portuguese also hoped to erect a wall against our expansion by
connecting her eastern and western territories, and for this purpose an
expedition set out from Angola to seize the Barotse country, but here
Rhodes again forestalled them; his mission was the first to arrive in
the country, and Barotseland was placed under our protection. The way
these things were done by Rhodes' agents, the hardships endured, the
perils incurred by these adventurous men who--unlike the Portuguese
agents who were always accompanied by large bands of armed men--plunged
alone into these savage regions to carry out their hazardous missions,
makes a wonderful story indeed of British pluck and enterprise.
The Pioneer Expedition set out in June 1890. The Pioneer Column, which
had been enrolled by Major Frank Johnson, consisted of 187 men who had
decided to try their fortunes in the new country, and it was accompanied
by 650 mounted police, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Pennefather.
The famous hunter, Selous, acted as guide. The ox-waggons carried
provisions and other stores sufficient to supply the whole force for six
months. For four hundred miles the Pioneers marched into Mashonaland,
constructing a road as they went, and making drifts at the many rivers
to enable the waggons to cross. Forts were built at intervals, and small
garrisons were left in them. At last they came to their objective point,
Mount Hampden; and hard by it they built Fort Salisbury, now the capital
of all Rhodesia. The Pioneer Force was now disbanded, each man
receiving, in addition to his pay, the right to peg out fifteen gold
claims and 3000 acres of land. The men scattered over the country,
prospecting for gold and pegging out their claims and farms. The first
rainy season was a terrible one for them; it was an exceptionally bad
year; all transport was interrupted, supplies fell short; the men had to
live on native foodstuffs; great privations were endured; many died;
and, as in every other part of our Empire, the ways of Rhodesia are
strewn with the bones of the men who won the land for their country.
But the men who go out as the pioneers of the Empire are not easily
discouraged. The settlement and development of the country was at once
undertaken with energy. Arrangements were made for the administration of
the new State; a legal system was created; roads were constructed;
mining plant was brought up; mining operations commenced; land was
brought under cultivation; stores were opened; townships were surveyed,
and rose rapidly from the wilderness, handsome brick buildings taking
the place of the huts in which the pioneers roughed it at first. But the
development of the country was much retarded by the difficulty of
communication and the enormous cost of transport. Little could be done
until Rhodesia was afforded railway communication with the coast; so Mr.
Rhodes made arrangements for the extension of the Cape railway from its
then terminus at Kimberley, and for the construction of a line to Beira
on the east coast.
The Chartered Company had not long effected its active occupation of
Mashonaland before the Matabele impis resumed their murderous raids on
the Mashonas, and in 1893 the Matabele war broke out, leading to the
overthrow of Lobengula and the absorption of Matabeleland by the
Chartered Company. Nearly every able-bodied white man in Mashonaland
volunteered his services. Three columns, numbering nine hundred men in
all, marched through the country, defeating the Matabele impis on the
Shangani and Zambesi; Bulawayo was occupied, and with the gallant stand
of Wilson and his little force, the war was brought to a conclusion.
Then the white man's city began to rise from the veldt, hard by the
burnt kraal of Lobengula. Towards the close of the war I travelled in an
ox-waggon with some Boer transport riders from the Marico Valley in the
Transvaal--about thirty miles from Mafeking--to Bulawayo. This beautiful
valley ("the Granary of the Transvaal") was the old home of Moselekatse,
Lobengula's father. It was a fat land; there is none so rich for a
hundred leagues around; for tribes of Zulu blood will establish
themselves in none but the best country, and they will trek far to find
it. The rolling land of Marico is as fertile as it is beautiful. It is
as green as Devon, and the pretty farmhouses of the prosperous people
are scattered among rich pastures, great fields of corn, and fruit
orchards. Fifty years ago the Boers and their Baralong allies drove
Moselekatse and his raiding warriors out of Marico, and sent them
trekking north to seek a new home. So northward they travelled,
murdering and cattle-lifting as they went, traversing good country, but
not such as would satisfy the Zulu, until at last, nearly five hundred
miles from Marico, they came to a land even more favoured than that
they had left, and settled down in what is now called Matabeleland. I
followed their route, and could then understand their choice. Fair
indeed to the eye appears the green, well-watered high veldt of
Matabeleland as the traveller from the south opens it out on reaching
the watershed between the Crocodile and the Zambesi rivers. Lieutenant
Maund, who some years before had been sent to spy out Matabeleland, with
justice reported that, "when compared to the country south of it, it was
as Canaan after the wilderness." When I reached the place where
Bulawayo, with its stately buildings, now stands, I found a few hundred
white men occupying a little temporary settlement of native huts and
tattered tents that had sprung up round the newly-constructed fort; the
building of the modern city had not commenced. A little later I was
present at the first auction of township stands. The alternate land lots
bearing even numbers, lining one side of what was to be the chief
street, were sold. They fetched about £50 apiece. A few months
afterwards the alternate stands bearing odd numbers were sold by
auction; they all fetched over £400 apiece, the highest price realised
being £900. Some of the stands, that could have been purchased for £50
each in 1893, are at the present time worth six or seven thousand pounds
apiece, and realise that price when put on the market. I quote these
figures to show that whatever critics at home may think of the future of
Rhodesia, those on the spot have confidence in it. The Matabele War was
scarcely over before the volunteers, having received their mining, farm,
and loot rights, scattered over the country to prospect and peg out
their claims. It was wonderful to observe how quickly, under Dr.
Jameson's able administration, everything was put in order, and
Matabeleland began to assume the aspect of a settled country. Bulawayo
was soon a fine city, having its water-works, electric lighting,
hospitals, public schools, its imposing court-house and other handsome
public buildings. Townships sprang up like mushrooms all over the high
veldt in the vicinity of the gold-bearing reefs. The population rapidly
increased. The Chartered Company, in the meanwhile, pushed on the
railway from Mafeking towards Bulawayo, proceeded to construct the line
from Umtali to Beira, and quickly placed Bulawayo into telegraphic
communication with the outer world. And now there was every sign of
prosperity; the development of the gold mines gave encouraging results;
trade was good; the value of the land for farming was proved, and
excellent crops were raised; Rhodesia's future seemed assured. But it
was fated that its progress should be retarded by an extraordinary
succession of disasters; surely no new country was ever so sorely
tried.
All was going well until the early part of 1896, when the first of its
many scourges swept down on the unhappy land--the dreaded rinderpest
came from the North, and despite every precaution that could be taken to
prevent its spreading, it destroyed over 90 per cent. of the cattle in
the country, and played like havoc among the wild game. It is difficult
for one who was not in Rhodesia at the time to realise the magnitude of
this misfortune. As this was a land then entirely dependent upon oxen
for transport, a stoppage was put to agricultural and mining operations;
and the cattle-owning native population suffered greatly. Before the
rinderpest broke out the average price of an ox in Rhodesia was £6, and
now, though it is over five years since the rinderpest was stamped out,
the price is about £28. Transport rates rose from 10s. to £5 per 100
lbs., and all the necessaries of life went up to famine prices. These
figures, which will be found in an interesting pamphlet written by Mr.
P. S. Inskip of the British South Africa Company's service, will convey
some idea of the situation. Absolute ruin faced the settlers; it is
wonderful that the bulk of them did not abandon the country in despair,
but pioneers are not easily disheartened, and they stubbornly struggled
on, taking every possible measure to mitigate the effect of the plague.
[Illustration: RHODESIAN NATIVES WASHING CLOTHES]
But misfortune followed on misfortune. The rinderpest was raging when
the Matabele rose, and the Rhodesians had to suppress a formidable
rebellion, which was rendered the more difficult to cope with by the
scarcity of oxen. The white settlers were massacred in outlying
districts; there were heroic rescues, the rising spread to Mashonaland,
and it was not until 1897 that the rebellion was crushed and peace for a
little while came to the troubled land. Our total casualties were 690;
and of the white settlers in the country alone 390 were killed and 150
were wounded, that is, 10 per cent. of the population. The Company spent
£360,000 in compensating the settlers for the losses the rebellion had
brought upon them.
It had fortunately been discovered that the rinderpest could be stamped
out by inoculation, but no sooner had this plague been conquered by
science than a terrible outbreak of red-water decimated the remaining
cattle. Locusts, too, came in unwonted numbers to devour the crops, and
horse sickness was very destructive. Then, on the top of all Rhodesia's
troubles, came the but just concluded Boer war cutting off this inland
territory from its communications with its commercial and military bases
on the coast, retarding its development, and once more calling on its
manhood to abandon industry and take up arms for their country. The
Rhodesians responded well to the call; twelve and a half per cent. of
the population fought in the war, and it will be in the memory of all
how well they acquitted themselves in the defence of Bechuanaland and
the relief of Mafeking. Thanks to the foresight of Cecil Rhodes,
Matabeleland was ours. Had it not been so, the Boers when defeated in
war would have trekked north into the rough country--through which it
would have been almost impossible for us to follow them--there to form
new independent states, to intrigue against us as before. It would have
been the old story over again; and after a few years we should have been
plunged into another Boer war. But Rhodes had hemmed in the two Boer
Republics. The quarrel had to be fought out within their boundaries.
There was no outlet for them into the wilderness this time.
[Illustration: THE OUTLET BELOW VICTORIA FALLS, ZAMBESI RIVER.
After Photo by G. W. Wilson, Aberdeen.]
Notwithstanding these successive disasters the Chartered Company and the
settlers had done much during those few troublous years to develop the
country. The rinderpest and the native rebellion made it all the more
urgent to complete the railway system that was to open communication
with the coast. The Company hurried on the construction. In November
1897 the line had been extended from Mafeking to Bulawayo, and in 1899
the line from Salisbury to Beira was completed. Then the line from
Bulawayo to Salisbury was pushed on; this connection has just been
completed, and one can now travel by rail without changing carriage from
Capetown to Beira _viâ_ Bulawayo and Salisbury. Another line is being
constructed through the Wankie coalfields which will cross the
Zambesi near the Victoria Falls. How short a time ago it seems since the
man who had visited the Falls was regarded as a great explorer! Other
branches, too, will shortly open communication to the various
goldfields.
[Illustration: MACHECKIE RAILWAY BRIDGE ON THE SALISBURY LINE,
MASHONALAND RAILWAY]
It is worthy of notice that Rhodesia, though the most remote from the
coast, was the one State in South Africa whose industries were kept
going during the war, so that the conclusion of peace found her ready
for an immediate expansion of her trade. This was due to the wise policy
of the Company. Early in 1900 it was represented to the Administration
that unless communication, which had been interrupted at the
commencement of the war, was soon restored, work could not proceed on
the mines; the native labourers would have to be discharged, and the
mines would have to be closed down. The Administration realised that it
would not only be disastrous to throw so many Europeans and natives out
of work, but that the closing down of the mines would convince the
Matabele that there was truth in the report which the Boer agents were
diligently spreading to the effect that the English were being driven
out of the country, and that the opportunity for rebellion had arrived.
The Administration therefore came to the assistance of the mining
community by making arrangements for the importation of sufficient
necessaries for six months through Beira, at a fixed transport rate of
£25 per ton from Port Elizabeth. The Company found itself about £5 a ton
out of pocket by this arrangement, but great distress was saved. At the
opening of the war the price of grain and meal rose 100 per cent.; but
the Hon. Sir Arthur Lawley, the then Administrator of Matabeleland,
warned the Chamber of Commerce at Bulawayo that if the cost of
necessaries rose too high he would open the Government Stores--in which
a large reserve of supplies had been laid up at the outbreak of the
war--and sell to white men at a reasonable rate. This had the desired
effect for a time, but later on the merchants took an unfair advantage
of the situation, whereupon the Administrator carried out his threat,
and so brought prices sharply down again. The result of this policy was
excellent; the development of the mines proceeded, even if slowly; the
crops were sown and there was a good harvest; the natives remained quiet
and readily paid their hut-tax, which amounted to a larger sum than had
been raised in any previous year.
Considering all the disasters, from the rinderpest down to the Boer War,
that have befallen the country, it is indeed wonderful that so much has
already been done towards the development of the resources of Rhodesia.
There are critics at home who maintain that the country is valueless,
that there are no payable gold reefs in it, else the mines would by this
time have been working at a profit. People in the old days spoke in the
same way of the Rand. Now, it was not until 1897, when the railway
reached Bulawayo, that the real development of the mines commenced, and
since then the country has produced gold to the value of a million and a
quarter sterling, and this with a very limited number of stamps running.
The gold belt extends for about 500 miles. Out of the 114,000 claims
that have been pegged out, only 737 have been worked at all. Some of the
mines have already paid dividends. The future possibilities of these yet
practically untouched goldfields no one can estimate.
It had been naturally expected that so soon as the opening of the
Rhodesian railways lowered the cost of transport rapid progress would be
made in the working of the mines, and critics at home express their
wonder that more has not been done; but the enormous increase in the
cost of local transport due to the rinderpest has cancelled the
advantage gained by the low railway rates from the south. Before the
railway was constructed or the rinderpest appeared, the transport from
Mafeking to Bulawayo, a distance of 500 miles, was ten shillings per 100
lbs. It costs as much as that now to transport mining machinery by
ox-waggon from the Bulawayo railway-yard to a mine only 50 miles
distant; and some of the mines are as far as 200 miles from a railway
station. The branch lines that are being constructed will bring many of
the mines within easy reach of the railway, but no great general
progress can be made throughout Rhodesia until cattle become plentiful
and cheap again. The Chartered Company is taking active steps to restock
the country. The importation of cattle on a large scale, both by the
various companies and by individuals, is now proceeding. Cattle of an
excellent breed, suitable to the climate, are being brought from
Angoniland, and will be crossed with Kerry or Jersey bulls. Importers of
stock intended for breeding purposes can carry them over the Rhodesian
railways at considerably reduced rates. Moreover, the Administration
advances money to farmers on easy terms, on the security of their farms,
to enable them to purchase cattle. With regard to the rinderpest,
inoculation has proved successful, and the Government should be able to
subdue any fresh outbreak by using the serum which is now manufactured
at Kimberley.
Now that peace has come to South Africa, all that Rhodesia wants to
enable her to make rapid progress is cheap transport, which she will
shortly have, and abundant and efficient native labour; for surely the
sore trials of her youth, which she so pluckily endured and survived,
are over at last. The gold is there; the majority of the reefs are
permanent, and to quote from the report of the Chartered Company's
Resident Consulting Engineer:--"What the future may hold it is
impossible to say, but the most grievous pessimist must surely admit
that the experimental stage has been safely passed, and that Rhodesia
has been proved to be a valuable gold-mining country of which the
possibilities are enormous." The recent discovery of valuable coal
deposits will greatly assist the development of the country's resources,
more especially benefiting the gold-mining industry, for the timber is
becoming exhausted in the vicinity of the mines, and the price of wood
fuel is ever advancing. A careful examination of one small section of
the Wankie bed shows that it will yield 1000 tons a day of coal of
excellent quality for the next hundred years. It is too early yet to
discuss the value of the iron, copper, and other ores which exist in
Rhodesia.
To turn to agriculture. There seems to be no production of the temperate
and sub-tropical zones that does not flourish on the favoured,
well-watered soil of Southern Rhodesia. The area under cultivation is
rapidly extending. The one great drawback is the locust. However,
farming pays well despite occasional bad seasons. Here is a story that
exemplifies the tenacity, under disaster, of the Rhodesian settler. In
one year, when the successive locust swarms ate up the land, a certain
farmer sowed his farm with mealies. The locusts devoured the crop:
undiscouraged, he sowed his fields a second time: again he lost his
crop. Yet a third time he sowed, and got his harvest in safely. Despite
the two failures, he now realised a handsome profit. Happily, in the
season of 1898-99 locusts almost entirely disappeared, and apparently
they have never since invaded the country in their former numbers. It is
claimed that this is due to the extensive use of toxine, with which for
the last few years a campaign of extermination has, with apparent
success, been carried on against these scourges of the land. The toxine
has been distributed among the white farmers and the native chiefs, with
instructions for its use, and satisfaction with the results has been
generally expressed. An energetic farmer does well in Rhodesia, and
finds among the mining communities an ever-increasing market for his
produce. At present the principal products are mealies, barley, wheat,
oats, forage, and potatoes, and excellent crops are raised. Market
farming and dairy farming in the vicinity of the towns are industries
that require little capital, and are exceedingly profitable. Boer
tobacco is produced in large quantities, and experiments that have been
tried with American seed have proved the suitability of soil and climate
for the cultivation of the superior qualities of tobacco. Oranges,
peaches, walnuts, apples, bananas, figs, cherries, vines, and other
fruits do very well in Rhodesia. In the yet uncolonised north of this
vast territory wild rubber of high commercial value covers large tracts
of country. The Chartered Company is taking steps to protect the plant
against the destructive native methods of extraction, and to make it a
source of wealth to Rhodesia as well of revenue to itself. In several
districts the cultivation of coffee and tea promises to prove
successful.
[Illustration: THE WANKIE EXPEDITION]
As elsewhere in South Africa, the chief difficulty in the way of the
development of the country is the disinclination of the idle natives to
work on the mines or elsewhere, all the more so now that so many have
been spoilt by the excessive wages paid to them by the military
authorities during the war. The native of Mashonaland, for example,
living in a country blessed with a fruitful soil and splendid climate,
protected by our rule from the raids that used to devastate his lands,
reaping his crops in security, assisted by the Administration in hard
times of rinderpest or locust scourge, is now more than ever loth to
work. He can earn as much as £3 a month with food and lodging. But for
the protection which he enjoys, and which enables him to wax rich, he
only contributes to the expenses of Government his hut-tax of ten
shillings. An increase in his hut-tax might induce him to work for a few
weeks in the year. If nothing will overcome his deep-rooted indolence,
other labour must be imported. Arabs from Aden are already working in
some of the mines.
The pay of the skilled white miner is 30s. a day. Throughout Rhodesia
the artisan earns good wages, the blacksmith and the bricklayer, for
example, receiving respectively 30s. and 35s. a day in Salisbury.
Detractors of Rhodesia are constantly asserting that the white
population is outrageously taxed, each settler, they state, having to
pay £40 per annum to the Chartered Company in the shape of taxes; and a
well-known politician, beloved of Little Englanders, has publicly
declared that this is the case. It appears that these ingenious people
arrived at this conclusion by dividing the amount of the Company's
revenue, £440,000, by the number of Europeans in the country, namely,
12,000, which certainly does give a result of nearly £40 per head. It is
thus assumed that all the Company's revenue is derived from the taxation
of the settlers. Now, in the first place, out of this £440,000 of
revenue, £113,000 represents the amount of the native hut-tax, and is
therefore not contributed by white people at all. Another £23,000 is
derived from the sales and rent of land, the Company's property; and
another £58,000 from the telegraph and postal services, which up till
now have been worked at a loss. No one can maintain that these items
fall under the head of taxation. To go further, another £86,000 of the
Company's revenue is paid directly by the mining companies that have
been floated--that is, by the shareholders in England, not by the people
of Rhodesia. These figures added up amount to £280,000, which leaves a
balance of £160,000--the taxation laid on the settlers, that is, about
£13 per head. To go still further, of this £160,000, £73,000 is derived
from the duties on wines, spirits, and tobacco. Therefore if one puts
these luxuries out of the calculation the taxation amounts to only £7
a head per year, which is anything but high when one bears in mind that
there are no paupers in Rhodesia, that women and children are few, and
that the large bulk of the population are adult males in the prime of
life earning high wages.
[Illustration: RHODESIAN MINING. THE DOBIE MILL]
The climate of the Rhodesian plateau is undoubtedly healthy and well
suited to British colonists. It is a land where the white man can work
in the fields. The British children reared here are as rosy of cheek and
as sturdy of limb as those at home. There is, of course, malaria in the
lowlands, but that will disappear before occupation and civilisation,
even as it has done in once unhealthy districts of the Transvaal and the
Cape Colony. It is the same with the diseases that affect domestic
animals: thus horse-sickness once prevailed far to the south, and
gradually has been driven north before advancing civilisation. The
dreaded tsetse fly too, fatal to horses and cattle, can only exist where
the larger wild beasts abound, and vanishes with the latter wherever the
white man establishes himself. The rinderpest, in killing off the wild
buffalo, did one good service: the tsetse disappeared with the buffalo,
and now only frequents remote and unfrequented regions.
From every point of view the future of Rhodesia now looks hopeful. The
young State suffered from every calamity that can befall a new country,
but was too vigorous to succumb. The Company and the Rhodesian community
have displayed pluck, energy, and patriotism in the hour of Britain's
danger, and every loyal Englishman must sincerely wish Rhodesia
prosperity. As regards the prospects of the Chartered Company itself, I
will conclude by calling attention to one point. Up till now the Company
has been compelled to maintain a large and expensive military force,
costing £276,000 a year. Now that the Boer war has been brought to a
conclusion, the necessity for so large a force has ceased to exist, and
Mr. W. H. Milton, the Senior Administrator of Southern Rhodesia, has
recommended, as sufficient to meet the requirements of the country, the
maintenance of a force of 400 Europeans and 400 natives, with a simple
organisation on the lines of the Cape Police. The cost of this, he
maintains, should not exceed £100,000 per annum. If his proposal is
accepted, the revenue of the Chartered Company should balance its
expenditure, and the corner will be turned.
PROBLEMS AND POSSIBILITIES
BY JAMES STANLEY LITTLE
_Author of "South Africa," "The Progress of the British Empire in the
Nineteenth Century," "The United States of Britain," &c. &c._
The magnificent vagueness of the subject the editor of this volume has,
in his wisdom, thought fit to apportion to me might have its
conveniences, were it not that such pregnant matters as emigration,
federation, education, irrigation, and half-a-dozen subjects besides,
all of which bristle with problems and possibilities of the most clamant
kind, are ruled out of this paper, in that their consideration has been
entrusted to highly competent and patriotic writers, upon whose
preserves it would be unbecoming to poach. Nevertheless, it must be
obvious to everybody that it will not be possible to attempt a
comprehensive analysis of the problems and possibilities of the future,
and to keep entirely clear of these all-important factors in the case;
seeing that every political, ethnical, financial, and economic problem
impinges on these special subjects of which one and all are a part.
[Illustration: THE RESETTLEMENT OF THE TRANSVAAL A BOER FAMILY RETURNING
TO THEIR FARM.
Drawing by Chas. M. Sheldon.]
As to the political situation to-day, it seems scarcely to be
apprehended in this country that the lines of cleavage between parties
and factions at the Cape, and indeed in the new colonies, are by no
means simple ones. In South Africa generally it is not merely a case of
Briton _versus_ Boer; it is not in Cape Colony simply a case of Dutch
Africander _versus_ British loyalist. In the Transvaal the problem is
not solely how to bring the Boers and English together, or how to
conciliate and retain the loyalty of those men, largely of British
origin, formerly known as Uitlanders. A labour party, championing a
programme practically identical with that with which all students of
later-day politico-social questions are familiar, is coming into
existence, and is, I think, certain to make itself a power in the land
as time advances. It has been frequently, if somewhat hastily, assumed
that in South Africa generally parties will follow the lines of division
common to most civilised communities, and range themselves in camps, the
composition of which will be determined respectively by the place of
residence and occupation of the units of the people; the interests,
sentiments, and aspirations of the town dwellers being at variance with
those of the rural inhabitants. In a sense, we may take the people of
Johannesburg to represent what passes for the urban population of
old-settled countries. Roughly speaking, the citizens of the older
established and smaller towns were dependent for their existence, and
are likely to continue to be so dependent, on the agriculturists, since
outside the Rand the Transvaal had no industries, no manufactures worth
considering: for some time to come she is not likely to have any. So the
Rand stood and stands for the towns, and the Uitlanders for the
townsmen. The rest of the State stood and stands for the country, and,
the agriculturists being mainly Dutch, the Boers stand for the
countrymen. In the future, however, the race question, which has
practically overruled any dividing lines drawn on the basis of townsmen
and countrymen in Cape Colony, should cease to govern, in quite the old
way, the political antagonisms of the inhabitants of the Transvaal; in
any case, if the various schemes for settling British farmers in the
land are crowned with reasonable success, it will no longer be possible
to regard the rural Transvaalers as simply Boers, and the townsmen as
simply Britishers. At present in the Transvaal there exists, of course,
the great and principal division of its people, the British and
philo-British _versus_ the Dutch and philo-Dutch. But the interests of
the great mining companies are not now, and never can be, on all-fours
with those of the operatives; while the traders are likely to find their
ideals at variance with those of the mining magnates and operatives
alike. Obviously there will be no immediate community of interest and
aim between the old Boer farmers and the new British elements introduced
on to the land. The differences of the townsmen are likely to be more
strictly economic than political; but they must necessarily take a
political complexion in the process of their devolution. It would be
rash to attempt anything in the shape of a precise forecast; but it
certainly seems to me quite unlikely that the future divisions into
parties of the citizens of the Transvaal can take the simple form of
Briton _versus_ Boer. No doubt the existence of the two races, living
side by side, with the remembrance of a century's differences between
them, will continue to give a decided tincture to the parties to be
formed in the future. It depends entirely on the kind of statecraft
Great Britain brings to bear on the settlement of the new colonies and
on its results, whether the progressive elements in the existing
population--the population waiting for the gates to be opened to it may,
for the purposes of this argument, be considered as entirely
progressive--range themselves on the side of British imperialism, or
whether they will join themselves to those forces, already existing,
which openly or secretly aim at the establishment of a republican
régime. It is quite a mistake to suppose that these forces--republican
sympathies, that is to say--are at the moment entirely to be sought for
in the Boer camp. It is, or it ought to be, common knowledge that the
internal movement for reform on the Rand, and for the elimination of the
Dopper-Hollander dominance of Pretoria, was not exactly inspired or
sustained by men who wished to see the Transvaal an integral portion of
the British Empire. At the same time, it is not denied that a great many
sympathisers with this movement, and not a few of its active
supporters--the late Mr. Rhodes, for instance--were above all things
anxious that when the Transvaal flag was hauled down the Union Jack
should be run up.
Apart, however, from such considerations, matters of history, it may be
allowed that whatever the nationality or preferences of respective
Uitlanders at that time of day, a rough sense of justice would reconcile
most of them now to the flag of the country, which at enormous sacrifice
of treasure and men has procured their release from the bondage of
Pretoria. It is equally certain, more so in fact, that their acceptance
of the British flag, now and hereafter, is and will be contingent on the
treatment they receive at the hands of the new Government. Already many
voices are heard in the land declaring that, so far from the new
Government having brought relief to the mining industry and to the
Uitlanders--and it must be clearly understood by all Englishmen, however
much they may resent the fact, that upon the prosperity of the mines not
only the welfare of the Transvaal but of all South Africa depends--it
has increased its burdens. The limits of space will not permit any
exhaustive examination into the basis of this complaint. Mr.
Chamberlain, before these lines are in the hands of the public, will
doubtless be on the spot examining into the grounds of the complaint. It
would be clearly impossible for any one to accuse me, of all persons, of
favouring the millionaires, or of holding a brief for their views and
interests. But this is not a millionaires', or a mining question; it is
the question of the to be or not to be of South Africa as a British
dependency. It may be said at once, that if, as Mr. Chamberlain at one
time indicated, the somewhat contradictory and superficial report drawn
up by Sir David Barbour, full of inconsistencies and injustices as it
is, is to be accepted by the British Government, then I would not care
to purchase at any price a seven years' repairing lease--a repairing
lease with a vengeance--of British tenure of South Africa, much less the
freehold of the property. Whether he be a financial expert or not, no
man who possesses a sound working knowledge, personal knowledge, of
South Africa and its affairs can study this report and preserve his
equanimity. It fills one with fear and trembling. Sir David Barbour's
proposals savour of the arbitrary confiscation of mining profits. This
perhaps, standing alone, would not matter much from a South African
point of view, since the loss would mainly fall on the hundreds of
thousands of English and foreign shareholders interested in the mines;
according to the _Statist_, the British public has something like
£250,000,000 invested in the mines. However, it is not with such losses
we are at present concerned. My contention is that if the Transvaal is
taxed out of all proportion to its wealth--its immediate or permanent
prospects even; if the new colonies, despite the heavy losses from the
war, and the serious--for a long time to come it will be serious--dearth
of labour contingent thereon, is burdened with taxation, the incidence
of which is to be double, or in any case greatly in excess of the
monstrous charges levied by Kruger and his advisers; if the Transvaal is
to be saddled with a heavy war debt, then the financial, political, and
economic ruin of South Africa in general, and the Transvaal in
particular, must follow as an inevitable consequence, and this will
happen even should a short respite be given. I have set forth again and
again, in the columns of the _Times_ and _Post_, and in the
Anglo-African journal I formerly conducted, that apart from the
uneconomic and impolitic nature of these suggestions, they are morally
unsound. He who calls the tune must pay the piper. The British people,
by allowing themselves to be ruled and betrayed by men who persisted in
blinding their eyes to the writing on the wall, though there were
Daniels in abundance to interpret it to them; by allowing themselves to
be served by an army wholly inadequate in numbers, and largely composed
of inefficients, are responsible for the cost of a war which never would
have taken place had British pro-consuls and colonists on the spot been
trusted; their counsel listened to here, and their hands freed and
actions upheld yonder.
Moreover, all such heroic schemes of taxation in the interest of the
British taxpayer, of which Sir David Barbour's report is a type, are
based on proleptic statistics of an expansion which after all is
problematical, and which in any case will not become solid fact if
onerous conditions are imposed upon the Rand in advance of that
expansion. The profits from the mines, great as they ought to be if we
do not strangle the goose right away, are ephemeral profits--thirty to
fifty years will see the last of them. Possibly the high-water mark of
production will be reached twenty years hence, and from that time the
decline will begin as in the case of the Australian and Californian
mines. It is obvious, therefore, that a heavy war debt must press
disastrously on the industry during its growth and during its decline.
Taxation seems to have been proposed on the basis of the anticipation,
as if it were already an accomplished fact, of the most prosperous days
possible of attainment by the industry, and in entire obliviousness of
the fact that no sooner is the zenith reached than gradual decline,
ending in extinction, must supervene. Unjust taxation would be a
suicidal policy; it would retard the flow of capital, render all but a
few higher-grade mines unprofitable, with the result that the budgets of
the new colonies would show deficits year after year. Not only would
capital awaiting employment be frightened into other channels, but
schemes of federation would remain sterile schemes; and the hope of a
prosperous and united South Africa would continue a mere day-dream,
impossible of accomplishment.
I have put this question of the taxation of the Transvaal in the
forefront of this paper, because it is of pressing importance and
immediate interest. Scarcely less important, though the subject will
probably be dealt with more fully by another pen, is the question of
land settlement. We are approaching this matter too parochially and
timidly. If the land companies and burghers will not part with suitable
land to settlers on reasonable terms, they must be made to do so. The
example of New Zealand must be followed. It is absolutely essential that
we should plant out settlers on a large scale; especially is it
essential in view of the fact that the loyalty of the dwellers in
Johannesburg and other mining centres is not to be counted on
confidently. With these men commercial considerations are certain to be
dominant. Even if they are not given the solid reasons for discontent
already foreshadowed, reasons, real and imaginary, in plenty are certain
to crop up. Hence their loyalty will not be a matter of sentiment, but
one of calculation. Further, every help and encouragement must be given
to the right kind of settlers; the country which spent over two hundred
millions sterling in making South Africa a possible place for Englishmen
to live in, should not grudge another ten, twenty, or if necessary
thirty millions to make the conditions of life sufficiently attractive
to the emigrating English agriculturist. The conditions underlying land
settlement have been carefully studied by Mr. Arnold Forster's Land
Commission, and they were lucidly set forth in the report of that
Commission. It remains for the Imperial Government to make them
operative, by coming to the country for generous support. I can do no
more here than record my absolute conviction, for what it may be worth,
that if land settlement in the new colonies is to find its own level, so
to speak; if we are trusting to men with the necessary capital, some
£300 or more, to come forward in anything like sufficient numbers to
affect appreciably the question of British _versus_ Boer in favour of
the British, or the problem of self-seeking Cosmopolitanism (purely
commercial interests) _versus_ sentimental and patriotic Imperialism, we
are building our hopes on sand. The drawbacks to farming in Africa are
many: absence of transport (and obviously without well-devised and
speedily carried out railway schemes the internal development of South
Africa is impossible); absence of navigable rivers; recurrent droughts
(here again I may say that nothing less can avail than grand schemes of
organised irrigation such as those favoured by Mr. Hedger Wallace and by
Mr. Willcocks in his luminous report); cattle disease and locusts. The
_ignis fatuus_ of the Rand, it must always be remembered, is ever
present to lure away the settler when he has once been induced to
settle. To the Englishman the love of isolation is not generally the
strongly developed vice or virtue it is with the Boer. Consequently, we
must go before the settler and prepare the way for him. Large and
well-organised schemes of planting families on communal principles,
freely scattered over the land in the midst of the Boers, both from an
economic and political point of view, are absolutely necessary if we are
to retain our hold on the country, or ensure its permanent prosperity.
Under proper conditions and safeguards, generous schemes of female
immigration must be initiated. It has been said, and I do not gainsay
it, that South Africa requires almost immediately 70,000 more women.
Also the Children of the State, the waifs and strays, the foundlings,
those who are physically and morally fit, of course, should be sent out
to South Africa, there to be carefully prepared in proper establishments
for colonial life. In this matter we may well learn wisdom from the
early Dutch settlers, who, under an arrangement with the Amsterdam
authorities, received into their midst a number of foundlings. From
these the present race of sturdy burghers has sprung. The subject is too
vast for detailed treatment here; else much might be said about the
policy of obliging all male settlers to bind themselves to a course of
military training and contingent service, and as to the expediency of
encouraging a respectable number of Canadians and Australians to make
their home in South Africa. It is, in any case, obvious that no
tentative tinkering with the question of land settlement can avail.
The sooner we face this necessity the better; since the sooner it is in
a fair way to being faced, mastered, and provided for, the sooner can
those electoral and legislative concessions we have promised the Boers,
and which honour, justice, and expediency oblige us to grant at the
earliest possible date, be granted. As things now are, we have a British
autocracy in power, alternating in turn between the desire to repress
the clamant demands of the one great industry of South Africa--the gold
mines, and dread of that powerful confederacy--the Rand magnates. The
methods and example of the great financial corporations and financial
princes are not, to write temperately, conducive to the elevation of
public morals; nor do they tend to give to the public life of a colony a
high or healthy tone. Students of Mr. Cecil Rhodes' career cannot fail
to notice the disintegrating effect on that great patriot's manners, and
on his public and private procedure, which resulted from his close
association with, and inexplicable reliance on, men, most of whom (it
would be invidious to specialise the exceptions) lived and moved and had
their being on a plane infinitely lower than Rhodes' natural one. The
destinies of the new colonies are for the moment nominally in the hands
of British officials. These officials have practically nobody to go to
for counsel but the mining and financial experts. This is not as it
should be. The sooner there is a free play of interests and opinions
between the Boers, British settlers, and Johannesburgers the better.
These divergent classes, all colonial, however antagonistic their
interests and prejudices, must fight out their differences among
themselves as best they may. The British official, excellent as he is in
dealing with subject races, is not seen at his best in controlling men
of his own flesh and blood--men, I should say, of his own colour--when
these men are in a position of political inferiority to himself.
The mention of this subject reminds me, that one of the most effective
arguments in favour of granting representative institutions to the new
colonies as quickly as may be is to be found in the native question. In
this matter, as indeed in every matter, colonial opinion asserting
itself through the necessarily imperfect, but only possible, system of
parliamentary institutions, must be respected. As to the native
question, an enormous majority of British South Africans, though it may
reprobate certain tendencies to undue harshness, brutality even, still
observable in the conduct of Boers of the baser sort, is nevertheless
convinced that the Dutch attitude toward the native is, in its essence,
the only possible or safe one. There is not the smallest fear that
anything in the shape of compulsory labour will be sanctioned by any
legislature in South Africa. But that the principles and provisions of
that most statesmanlike Act, the Glen Grey Act, will be further extended
there can be no doubt.
That the labour question throughout South Africa, and especially as it
affects the mining industry, is among the more difficult problems of the
future, most persons are aware. It is said that in five years' time
320,000 natives will be required at Johannesburg to work the mines,
irrespective of enormous domestic requirements there. To this total we
must add the hundreds of thousands needed for industrial and household
work throughout South Africa. It is estimated that in five years' time
there will be no more than 600,000 working Kaffirs south of the
Zambesi. It is obvious that under the most favourable computation the
supply is certain to continue to be totally inadequate to the demand.
This is the more apparent when it is remembered, that it is only
possible to get a small proportion of able-bodied Kaffirs to work at
all, and that the average service of these willing ones is not more than
four months a year, taking one year with another. Doubtless the new laws
as to capitation tax, and the modifications in the direction of greater
stringency in the hut tax, alterations which must have the effect of
reducing the economic evil of polygamy, will effect some amelioration in
the conditions now obtaining. But the lowering of wages and the
prohibition of the liquor sale have retarded the immediate supply. I
have had to listen before now to arguments in favour of the unrestricted
sale of liquor to the natives, and in advocacy of establishing drinking
booths from one end to the other of the Rand. This would be as suicidal,
politically and socially, and in the long run as uneconomic a policy as
could well be devised, to say nothing as to its cynical immorality. Of
course, when schemes of organisation are perfected, and labour is
largely drawn from Central Africa, the employers will enjoy some measure
of relief; but in the end, unless relief comes from that highly
debatable source--the importation of coolie labour--the prejudice
against white labour in Africa will have to break down: a way out, I am
sure, always provided the whites can be differentiated and segregated
from the blacks, which cannot but be fraught with results of lasting
benefit to the country, in procuring for it a solid substratum of
Caucasian settlers who will become the industrial backbone of the
country. The indirect advantages of such an innovation cannot be reaped,
however, if schemes of heavy taxation are to be sanctioned. The margin
between loss and profit in working most of the mines--they are what are
called in city slang "low-grade propositions"--is so small, that a
slight increase even in the price of labour would often make mining
unprofitable.
The employment of white labour would have the effect of disabusing the
minds of the natives of the growing conviction that they are necessary
to our well-being and existence. The truth is not so far short of this;
but we must not make it apparent: we must try to make it less true than
it is. During the war the native, spoiled by the military, did not gain
respect for the Englishman. He is a shrewd fellow, and although our arms
were victorious in the end, he cherished no delusions. Man for man, he
has seen for himself how much more effective as a fighter the Boer was
than the Briton. Enjoying special advantages--his knowledge of the
country and his control over the Kaffirs--the Boer was enabled to make
the best use of his superior marksmanship, tactics, and mobility; with
the result that it was easy for him to inflict much greater damage on
his opponents than that opponent, with all his courage and spirit, could
inflict in return. The native has seen our men lying in ghastly,
mutilated masses. He has seen few such spectacles on the Boer side. The
native is no sentimentalist. He is much like a prevalent type of modern
young woman--fond of laughing, enjoyment, gew-gaws and sweets, while
viewing everything from the standpoint of self-interest. In brief,
despite his jollity he is as hard as nails. It is perfectly right that
we should show him some consideration as the descendant of tribes who
conquered the land some century or so earlier than we conquered it; for,
except so far as being an inhabitant of the continent is concerned, it
is absurd to talk of the existing South African tribes as aborigines.
But if the "nigger" will not work, he must in the long run give place to
men who will, to British and Continental labourers and to other British
subjects--the coolies of India, for instance--men who will work, and who
are now starving, or are on the brink of starvation, for the want of it.
That this step is not to be taken lightly I am free to admit. It is
fraught with grave difficulties and dangers--political, economic, and
ethnical--considerations which are by no means to be minimised even if
for a larger good--South Africa cannot be allowed to languish for lack
of labour--they will have to be ignored.
[Illustration: LORD MILNER
By Mortimer Menpes.
From "War Impressions," by arrangement with Messrs A. & C. Black,
London.]
There can many, indeed in most directions, the civil administration of
the new colonies, so far as it has been provided, is highly creditable
to Lord Milner and the able men associated with him. So excellent and so
thorough is the work accomplished--in education, in replacing the
machinery of the higher civil administration throughout the
colonies--that, without hyperbole, it may be said to fill one with
admiration and wonder. If one could always be sure of getting such a man
as Joseph Chamberlain at the Colonial Office, and such a man as Alfred
Milner as High Commissioner, one would be strongly in favour of
retaining permanently as much power as possible in the hands of the
holders of these two offices. But it is not possible to count upon a
succession of such ministers. It is noteworthy, and I would especially
emphasise the point in view of what is to follow, that the appointment
of Lord Milner and Mr. Chamberlain to their respective offices may be
said to have been in defiance of precedent. Since the institution of the
Colonial Secretaryship half-a-century ago, ministers appointed to the
office have almost invariably been noblemen of little or no importance.
Again, Lord Milner's earliest career was not official. He was quite out
of the groove in which the men who become colonial governors usually
run. It is regrettable, that the success of these two statesmen does
not give the Government heart of grace to put appointments in the new
colonies more largely into the hands of men of proved initiative and
originality--men who have not had any good which may have been in them
strangled by red tape and flummery in the public offices. The complaint
as to the appointments made in the Transvaal--appointments of untried
striplings and callow fledglings from the universities, is doubtless
exaggerated; but it is well to remember that putting power into the
hands of the "curled darlings of the nation" was one of the chief
causes, among many contributory causes, of the failure of Sir Theophilus
Shepstone's policy; the reason why the annexation of the Transvaal, with
the tacit consent and approval of the majority of its people, was
subsequently repudiated by them.
However that may be, it is extremely regrettable that a country,
possessing so many good men, men in every way indicated by their
abilities and achievements as successful administrators _in posse_, is
constantly at a deadlock for the lack of suitable public servants. I
could mention spontaneously, without having time for reflection and for
selection, a round dozen, probably a score, men of parts full of the
sense of our imperial responsibilities, and certain to be able and
zealous in the Empire's service: men accustomed to positions in which
initiative and sound judgment are demanded of them, who, pining to be
men of action, to play their part, however humble, in affairs of State,
affairs of which they possess a firm grip, are condemned to enforced
inactivity, buried away in country houses, or, let us say, wasting their
energies in mere constructive synthesis or destructive criticism, for
which, alas! no one is much the better. These men, the born
administrators of our over-seas dominions, are lost to the Empire,
because of the red-tape exclusiveness and jealousy of the ruling classes
of this country.
I have been betrayed for the moment into an academic consideration, and
let me say here that I sorrowfully endorse--I might add that in a large
measure I have publicly anticipated--most of the strictures on our
system of misgovernment, corruption, and panoplied vice set forth in the
letters of that sturdy Africander signing himself by his true initials
"P. S." Under these abuses we groan, and it is difficult to continue to
hope that we shall escape from their tyranny, and rise again to that
full manhood of our race asserted in the spacious days of Elizabeth, and
again when Napoleon threatened our shores. Our grand old country is
sinking deeper and deeper into the morass of spiritual and intellectual
indifferentism, sordid materialism, and time-serving opportunism. One
sees scant justification for optimism, unless, indeed, Judgment should
descend upon us and beneficently scourge us back to our nobler past.
It is not, however, with these larger issues I am at this moment
directly concerned. Despite the constant drains upon our best and most
vital manhood the possession--protection and administration--of the most
extensive empire of this or any age impose upon the United Kingdom,
upon, that is to say, a small and no longer rapidly increasing nation, I
do not believe that there would be any ground for the fear that we have
annexed more territory than we can effectively administer, or that we
have incurred greater responsibilities than we can sustain, if we had
the presence of mind, the initiative and sense to utilise those latent
sources of unexhausted supply we now wilfully neglect. The immediate
bearing of these remarks reveals itself when the serious problem of the
_personnel_ of the magistracy of the new colonies is mentioned. Every
one knows that the landdrosts under the old régime, men for the most
part rough and unlettered, were habitually underpaid and habitually
corrupt. The inadequate salaries paid to these men are, it seems, now
being continued to the new magistracy, and this despite the enormous
increase in the cost of living, with the result that men of quite
inferior parts are mainly available for the positions; while, when from
stress of life and circumstance, men of the right stamp, men to whom
Boer and Kaffir can look up as their natural superiors, chance to fill
these offices, they are unable, by reason of their poverty, to live in a
way or to comport themselves in a manner consistent with the dignity of
their offices.
In the Transvaal, and indeed in South Africa generally, it behoves us to
welcome all comers from Europe and America, not being adventurers or
wastrels--all and sundry who can contribute to the good of the country
and who are willing to become loyal citizens. It will be madness to
attempt to build up a South African nation from these islands alone.
England is a small country and the English are gradually ceasing--and
this tendency is certain to increase--to rear large families. In the
past, in our own land as well as in our realms beyond the seas, our
chief glory has been in our genius in amalgamating different strains,
bringing them all into the fold as patriotic Britons. The British Empire
is now more than ever a crucible wherein metals, precious and base, may
be wrought into a fine amalgam. Whether as a limb of a great and
regenerated British Empire, and therein my individual hopes lie, or as a
powerful republic on the pattern of the United States, there ought to be
no question as to the future of South Africa. Mr. Chamberlain said again
only the other day that the prosperity of South Africa in the not far
distant future would doubtless exceed the dreams of the most sanguine
visionary. So let it be. Many shrewd Americans are of the same mind. No
doubt the immediate expansion in South Africa's import trade is due to
military requirements, while the shrinkage of its export trade may be
attributed mainly to the war having put a stop to the recovery and
exportation of gold. The cost of living throughout South Africa, at
present extraordinarily high, is certain to be reduced to more
reasonable limits when the railways are permanently relieved from the
control of the military. It must be remembered, too, that while a fair
proportion of favoured individuals among the colonists have reaped huge
harvests by the war, a far greater number have been crippled and ruined
outright by it. It is not for me to deal with the problems of trade; but
I may say that even should some scheme of the favoured-nation kind be
extended to British imports by the South African Realm to be, that in
itself would not serve, nor will the spirit of patriotic preference for
British goods suffice to preserve the trade of South Africa for this
country. The matter rests with our manufacturers, exporters, and their
agents; and no one, not being a self-deceived egoist, can pretend that
the more alert, adaptive, and modern methods of American and German
houses are not certain, unless our countrymen turn over a new leaf, to
prove too much for our LAISSEZ-FAIRE, self-sufficiency, and careless
indifference.
In this matter the best men, be they English, German, or Yankee, will
win. But this is a home rather than a South African question. In any
case, we may expect soon to see a considerable influx of capitalists,
farmers, and traders, and they cannot but give an impetus to South
Africa's reviving fortunes, let political ineptitude do its worst. I
have endeavoured to show wherein lie the chief obstacles to progress in
the new colonies. In the old--Natal would in any case seem to have an
era of immediate prosperity before her--the future is darkened by
considerations all too apparent for the most optimistic or blind to
overlook or ignore. The Africander Bond and the Dutch Reformed Church
have not buried the hatchet. Throughout South Africa it is, of course,
the duty of the loyal South African of British origin or British
sympathies to endeavour to recognise at their best the many sterling
qualities of the Dutch, and to forgive with what charity he may their
besetting sins, condoning them as the resultants of environment and
circumstance. It is also their duty to recognise that the past mistakes
of Downing Street were chiefly due to lack of brain and thought, rather
than to lack of heart, and to determine to work with all true patriots
for the lasting good and welfare of South Africa.
Unhappily there is ample evidence to show that the Dutch Reformed Church
and the Africander Bond are as active for evil as ever. How great is the
terrorism exercised by the COMMISSIE VAN TOEZICHT (the Secret Council of
the Bond) is illustrated to-day by the abject recantation of the Rev.
Mr. Botha, a pastor who, having counselled his countrymen to submit to
the inevitable and accept British rule as far back as September 1901,
now stands in the white sheet of repentance, and abjectly craves to be
forgiven for what he calls his temporary weakness and backsliding!
Undoubtedly disloyalty to the British Empire throughout South Africa has
its _fons et origo_ not in the Transvaal but at the Cape. For the moment
the Bond lies low. It has gained everything it can hope to gain for the
present. This the most superficial student of Cape politics can see. The
problem of how to reconcile divergent elements at the Cape, and to make
the Cape Dutch as loyal to the Empire as the French Canadians to-day,
not that their loyalty is unimpeachable, is an extremely complicated
one. At the Cape it is by no means merely a question of Dutch _versus_
English or of Town _versus_ Country. Many of the most active enemies of
Great Britain are to be found in the houses of the old Dutch families
inhabiting the suburban districts of Cape Town--Wynburg, Rondebosch, and
so forth. It is also true that among those old Dutch families no more
loyal subjects of the king are to be found. Unhappily English
associations, close intercourse with Government House, intermarriage
with English families, and education at our universities or at the
Temple here, do not always ensure that the Dutch Africander will be
loyal to Great Britain. Even more to be regretted is the fact that many
colonists of pure British descent, birth even, are merely nominally
loyal to the Imperial connection, if as much as that. Their loyalty is
of the opportunist kind. Because of their hatred of the Dutch
propaganda, and because they fear that the Dutch, if left to themselves,
would become "top dog," they tolerate British institutions. We cannot
blame them over much for this attitude, when we remember how miserably
we have deserted our countrymen in the past; how we have left them to
the tender mercies of the Dutch; how we have neglected their warnings
and advice, and brought ruin and misery upon them because of our
short-sightedness and stiff-neckedness.
Even now the British colonist has many substantial excuses for averring
that loyalty does not pay. In view of these facts it behoves Great
Britain to admit frankly her past errors and to resolve, if she means to
retain her hold on South Africa, to order her footsteps differently in
the future. It behoves Great Britain, if she would avoid future risks of
triangular disloyalty and the grave disasters, local and international,
which might supervene on another period of neglect and snubbing, to
trust the men on the spot. It behoves her to govern South Africa firmly,
consistently, and unemotionally; to have done with Majubanimity and all
its works once and for all; all folly, such as paltering with the
language and education questions, whereby the sentiments and interests
of loyal British colonists are flouted and ignored. Great Britain must,
however, do everything that she can consistently do to bring the two
European races--English and Dutch--together. If she is to do this, if
England is to retain a firm grip on South Africa, we must continue
strong, let it be said rather we must renew our strength here in the
centre of the Empire. Within the next half-century it is probable that
the last ounce of gold will have been extracted from the Transvaal's
deepest deep levels. Within half that time the impending struggle of the
world Powers to establish themselves in unassailable positions will have
taken place. Germany is forced by an inexorable law of self-preservation
to find an outlet for her commerce and her people on the seas. Every
thinking German, from the Kaiser downwards, tells us as much frankly. We
can see it for ourselves. She must find employment, food, and raiment
for her highly prolific people, for their own land is by no means rich
in natural wealth. As to Africa, our hold on it depends entirely upon
the strength of our national grip. If our hand is growing flabby and
listless, and, alas! there are too many indications that such is the
case; if France is to gain her ends in the Mediterranean; if sentimental
views in regard to the natives are to prompt us to stand idly by while
such organisations as the so-called Ethiopian Church of the United
States working from the south, and the emissaries of a militant
Mahommedanism from the north, conspire informally to undermine their
loyalty, then our days in Africa are numbered. In the last event, our
hold on that continent in general and South Africa in particular depends
upon character, especially the character of our ruling classes. The
possibilities of this country in Africa are magnificent; but the
problems to be solved, if these possibilities are to be realised, must
appal and finally overcome all but the stoutest of heart. The world, and
South Africa with it, will fall to the nation which breeds and sustains
the best men.
THE FUTURE OF THE MINING INDUSTRY
BY F. T. NORRIS
The future prosperity of South Africa mainly depends upon the
development of her vast and indisputable gold wealth, for, albeit she
possesses other resources in undoubtedly lavish abundance, the means for
the utilisation of these latter are dependent, in a large measure, upon
the effective exploitation of her auriferous reserves. This fact was
explicitly stated by Sir David Barbour, the financial expert appointed
by the Imperial Government to report in 1901 on the resources of the
Transvaal, and that this impartial official opinion is echoed by all
competent observers prior to and since his investigations only confirms
its correctness. As to the magnitude to which the mining industries in
the Transvaal may ultimately attain opinions differ, but, says this
authority, and this view is confirmed by experts, it is certain that the
production of gold will continue to increase largely for some years at
least; that there will be a corresponding growth in the production of
coal, and it is possible, and perhaps probable, that valuable mines of
other minerals, and especially of diamonds, may be opened. He therefore
opines that, from an economic point of view, the prospects of the future
for a considerable period are quite satisfactory, and it is unnecessary
to speculate as to what may ultimately happen.
Public opinion on the Rand is unanimous that absolutely vital questions
for the mines' future are, for the moment, labour and taxation. A
comprehensive and impartial view of the circumstances of the mines must
force the conclusion that such contentions are perfectly sound.
Naturally, however, the dimensions of the latter factor have less weight
since the reduction of the customs tariff and the previous abolition of
monopolies, and, with the pending solution of the question of dynamite,
the mining industry is now not only in a vastly superior economic
condition than it ever was, but has been placed in a position to
sustain, not without some difficulty maybe at the outset, all the
prospective burdens of projected Imperial taxation. In saying "not
without difficulty," the crux of the present economic situation, as
looked at by the leading and responsible section of the mining industry
and competent individuals at large, is touched. For the judiciousness or
otherwise of the immediately heavy incidence of the share of the cost
of the war, which it may be contemplated to place on the Transvaal, is
what causes the present misgivings; and, with the operative capacity of
1898 still some ten to fifteen months ahead, the immediate call for
heavy contributions can only act as a drag upon progress. It is with
this consideration in view that the Chamber of Mines, in a recent letter
to Lord Milner, asked for a delay of five years before making a first
payment, in order to allow time for the industry to recover its former
level, and that other authorities have also entered their protests.
[Illustration: PROSPECTING FOR GOLD: PANNING A SAMPLE]
The inference that an immediate and heavy increase of taxation is to be
made to meet the war debt obligations may possibly be gratuitous, and
probabilities confirm this supposition, for it is at issue with the
Government expert's special recommendations. From this point of view,
Sir David Barbour's observations are worth reciting for their direct
bearing. He says: "The sound policy for the Transvaal is to so frame its
system of taxation as not to increase unnecessarily the initial capital
expenditure, or enhance the cost of working. I shall take it for granted
that it is not intended to impose excessive or crushing taxation on
either of the Colonies, or to exact such a share of their revenue as
would cripple or starve the Administration. Subject to these
considerations, I shall assume that any surplus of revenue over
expenditure, or any special assets that the Colonies may possess, can
fairly be taken towards meeting a portion of the cost of the war."
Further: "If the additional taxation which I recommend ... be imposed
... it may be anticipated that after two years from the conclusion of
peace that Colony will be in a position to set aside a portion of its
ordinary revenue towards meeting the cost of the war. I am unable at
present to form an estimate of the amount which it may be possible to
set aside in this way.... On the assumption that the contribution of the
Orange River Colony and the Transvaal towards the cost of the war is to
be limited to the amount which they can pay without imposing excessive
taxation or starving the Administration, it will be obvious from what is
said in the preceding portion of this report, and especially in
paragraph 62, that it is impossible at the present time to specify any
definite sum as that which ought to be paid. I suggest that the Imperial
Government should fix the maximum sum which, under any circumstances,
they would require to be paid. Such portions of the total amount of
contribution, so fixed as it may be found from time to time that the
Colonies can bear, should be made a charge against them. If, in the
course of time, it is found that the Colonies are unable to pay the
whole sum, under the conditions as to taxation and cost of
administration which I have already specified, the balance should be
written off." So far as the immediate incidence of war taxation is
concerned, it is therefore highly probable that the Government, who have
adopted their financial expert's views almost _in toto_ with regard to
fiscal reform, will do the same with regard to the levy of the war
contribution.
[Illustration: WASHING PLANT OF DE BEERS DIAMOND MINES AT KIMBERLEY
Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen]
But another phase of the same subject is revealed in the extent of the
contribution which the Transvaal should be called to bear compared with
that of the other South African Colonies. In the thoughts of some,
tinctured still perhaps with a touch of the recent bitterness of the
war, the Transvaal should bear the heaviest share; but it is to be
observed that this is not the opinion of the responsible heads of the
mining industry, who, while admitting the justness of assuming their
proper proportion of the proposed burdens, appropriately point out that
both the Orange River Colony and the Cape Colony (for a part of the
latter's population) were fellow-sharers in the beginnings and the
conduct of the war, and should bear a due portion of the resultant
financial burdens, while Natal, it is contended, cannot fairly be
allowed to escape contribution to the extent at least of the valuable
Transvaal territory which has been allotted to her. Pending formal
announcements of the Government's intentions--and it is to be observed a
contribution from the Orange River Colony is contemplated in Sir David
Barbour's report--many huge lump sums have been mentioned, which it is
proposed to levy on the Transvaal alone. Such reports naturally have not
only alarmed the mining industry, but disturbed the confidence of
international capitalists, upon whom the future development of the
wealth of the goldfields in the first place rests. The extent of the
alarm which is felt is shown by the Johannesburg Chamber of Mines as a
body pleading in their recent communication to Lord Milner for a
"reasonable sum" to be fixed, and by the rough estimates of this sum
propounded by others, as, for instance, Mr. Freeman Cohen, chairman of
the Potchefstroom Exploration and Gold Mining Company, who indicates
£30,000,000 as the specific figure, while Mr. Bleloch adventures the sum
of £35,000,000. This last gentleman's summing up of the situation is
that the mines can pay, and are willing and forward to pay, provided the
incidence at the first be made light, and that the burden of the
£55,000,000 estimate of the Government's financial expert be shared by
the other Colonies in the proportion, say, of £5,000,000 from each, to
lessen the burden on the mining industry as much as possible, especially
the low-grade section, and also as a matter of equity, and he advocates
in addition--to augment the disposable revenue--the levy of a 5 per
cent. tax on the profits of other industries (banks, &c.), the creation
of death dues and of a land tax; also the beneficial reservation to the
Government of portions of each new mining field to be opened.
That the whole weight of the taxation of the Transvaal should not be
made to fall upon one industry is, of course, consonant with reason,
policy, and equity. Pending the pronouncement of its actual intentions,
and in view of the alarmist rumours which are spread about, it behoves
the Government, to allay the very natural apprehensions entertained, to
give an early and explicit outline of its proposals, and in this
connection the projected visit of the Right Hon. J. Chamberlain to the
Colonies is of the best augury. From his place in Parliament that
statesman has already disclaimed, on several occasions, proposals anent
the immediate imposition of heavy taxes attributed to the Imperial
Government, and the probabilities are that those recently published in
London are as baseless as they are vague.
The dependence, to a large extent, of the development of the mining
industry on the fostering and assistance, or otherwise, accorded by the
existing Government is a point too painfully brought home to the Rand
mining industry by past experience to need demonstration; wherefore the
sound common-sense statesmanship of those now responsible for the
prosperity of the Empire is a valuable guarantee that the various
problems now absorbing the attention of the industry will be treated in
a fair, just, and liberal manner.
The Rand mining industry, at the moment, is undoubtedly in the throes of
one of those periodic waves of depression incident to all great
gold-mining fields, though to the Rand in a less degree than to the
others, on account of the certain results which may be reckoned upon
from the stable nature of its geological formation. Capital required for
its development is in many cases being withheld, investors looking
askance at its demands with obvious misgivings. This attitude is
undoubtedly due to impatience, and disappointment that progress has not
been more rapid since peace has been declared.
[Illustration: THE INFANCY OF A GOLD-MINE: WINDING QUARTZ WITH A WHIM]
Apparently it was assumed that only a cessation of hostilities was
needed for the mines to hurry up and resume their old-time rate of
production and prosperity. Such an assumption ignores the real
difficulties of reconstituting a country and its industries, devastated
and disorganised for three years by war, and setting up an entirely new
order of things. As a matter of fact, the progress actually achieved has
been marvellous, and as much, or even more, than could have been
expected in like cases. It has apparently been forgotten that civil
government has only within a few weeks replaced the military in the main
administrative channels. The railway network of the sub-continent has
only been thrown open to the free transport of merchants' goods within
the past month, and the limitation of transit to the Rand, and the
interior generally, is a most serious matter, by reason of the fact that
the trunk railways from the coast are only single lines. For the
clearance at the ports of the accumulations of mining machinery, mining
stores, building materials, foodstuffs, and general merchandise, months
are required, and this clearance must take place ere the railway traffic
can fall back into its normal grooves. Abundance of labour, too--always
a crucial question with mining operations, whether they be on the Rand,
in Rhodesia, or elsewhere in the sub-continent--is, for a variety of
causes, not yet available, although measures have been taken by the
Government and the mining industry, acting in concert, which have placed
this subject on a more satisfactory footing than it ever enjoyed. Other
advances have been made in the improvement of the status of the
industry, such, for instance, as the reduction of the customs duties,
which enormously improve the industry's chances of future remunerative
working. Some desiderata are certainly unfulfilled, such as reduced
railway rates; but the instalment of reforms made affords a fair basis
on which working can be resumed with admirable chances of remuneration
and profit. This being so, the unreasonableness of the show of
impatience that progress has not been more rapid, and the undeservedness
of the distrust with which the industry is professed to be regarded in
some quarters, are obvious. A sober view of the situation of the
Transvaal at the present moment must undoubtedly force the confession
that the amount of solid work done in solving the many problems
simultaneously surging up for solution in a new colony besides
mining,--repatriation, resettlement, &c.--and in rebuilding generally
the body politic, is of substantial volume, and that the progress
hitherto made, in removing the difficulties which beset the mining
industry, are sufficient augury that whatever remains unalleviated will
receive its due and satisfactory attention in the near future.
In an old (1876) edition of "Chambers's Encyclopædia," under the heading
of "Africa--Productions," is the statement that "It would be hazardous
to assert that Africa is deficient in _mineral wealth_, though, judging
from our present imperfect knowledge, it does not seem to be extremely
rich." Little did the compilers of this well-known work think that, in
the space of less than twenty-five years, a town of about 150,000
inhabitants would spring up as the centre of a mining country which now
takes rank as the first gold-producer in the world. The gold production
of the Rand to date is indeed stated to equal one-ninth of the coined
gold in circulation throughout the world, while its potential reserves
are probably fourfold this amount. In 1887 the United States occupied
first rank among gold-producing countries, Australia being second, and
Russia third, the total gold production of the world being only
£18,000,000. In 1898, South Africa occupied the premier position with 28
per cent. of the aggregate world's production, and her contribution,
moreover, represented only 3-1/2 millions less than the world's
aggregate in the first-named year. In 1899, owing to the war, it just
managed to fall short of the headship. Since its start, the Rand
gold-fields have produced gold to the handsome aggregate amount of
£81,000,000 sterling. On the fortunes of South Africa, the influence
exerted by this stupendous accretion to its wealth is past question, for
the output of £20,000,000 of gold in 1898 formed 80 per cent. of the
subcontinent's aggregate exports in that year, while 68 per cent. of it
was disbursed in labour, foodstuffs, mining stores, and material in the
course of its winning. It is only needful to glance back at the modest
proportions of South Africa's trade movement before the discovery, first
of diamonds and then of gold, to recognise how much it owes to its
mineral wealth, and more particularly to that of gold, for its
present-day prosperity. Its populations, its cities and ports, its
railway network, its multifarious industries from agriculture upwards,
and its merchant firms and commercial activity have each and all been
stimulated and enlarged enormously by it. As in the case of Australia
and other older gold-producing countries, the output of gold, primarily
from the Witwatersrand fields, has acted like a perennial stream,
fructifying and rendering teemful the arid wastes, and making the very
wilderness to blossom as the rose.
The gold-bearing quartz-pebble conglomerate beds, called by the Boers
"banket"--the discovery of gold in the outcrops of which in 1883 started
the Witwatersrand mining industry--form a series of strata going down at
an angle of about 30 degrees to hitherto unknown depths--over 8000 feet
have already been plumbed--and extending over a tested lateral distance
of more than 50 miles.
[Illustration: CYANIDE WORKS (NEW COMET MINE) AT JOHANNESBURG
The tailings are run into the huge vats, and the cyanide of potassium a
deadly poison percolates through, and carries off the gold in solution.
Photo by Barnett & Co., Johannesburg]
[Illustration: SECTION OF A GOLD MINE. (Photo by Horace W. Nicholls,
Johannesburg)]
These beds lie in series, that particular one which contains most of the
gold being called the Main Reef series, comprising the Main Reef proper
and a number of subordinate reefs or bands. The thickness of the Main
Reef is from 3 to 12 feet, that of the Main Reef Leader 3 feet on the
average, and the South Reef thinner than the latter, but having a richer
gold contents than either. These are the beds chiefly worked, the gold
being disseminated throughout the matrix mainly in crystals, visible
gold being only occasionally seen, but in fairly regular quantities, so
that the results of working, whether in the richer or poorer reefs, are
capable of being accurately forecasted. The knowledge of the nature and
extent of the beds has only gradually been brought together, and is
still incomplete in parts even for the 15 miles section of the Rand
which has been longest under working, and discoveries are of almost
daily occurrence extending the sum of information regarding their
composition and incidence. In the section situated between the
Langlaagte Estate Mine in the west and the New Comet in the east,
one profitable mine after another follows almost without a break. The
eastern and western extensions are, for the main part, still _terra
incognita_; but the several mines scattered along their stretch have
confirmed the identity and value of the formation, which is held by
experts to warrant the belief in the existence of wealth even exceeding
the Rand proper.
Knowledge as to the depth to which the reefs descend has been slowest in
accumulating. When the outcrops were first worked in the central
section, it was believed that there was little or no gold in the lower
levels. Since 1898, however, deep and yet deeper depths have been
explored, especially in following the richer reefs, and always with the
similar result of meeting with the same, or a superior, grade of ore
contents peculiar to the higher sections of the particular reef, so that
the inference is strengthened to certainty that profitable exploitation
is only limited to the ultimate depth at which modern mining can be
carried on. The problem, therefore, is one for the engineers; for, apart
from the increased temperature in the lower levels, which can be met by
roomier shafts, and the occurrence of water, which is likewise capable
of being dealt with, the only difficulty to be met with is that
concerned with the hoisting appliances for such enormous depths. So
recently as May last the London Chamber of Mines, and more recently the
Johannesburg Association of Mining Engineers, were engaged on the
solution of this question. It is needless to anticipate the results of
their deliberations, the point turning upon the choice betwixt two
systems, only so far as to state that means for solving the difficulties
of the task are considered to be available, at least, to such depths as
5565 feet on the slope, and that the results of mining at these great
depths can be made to show a substantial profit. It may be added,
however, that in consequence of the increased cost to reach the ore, the
need for the utmost reduction of working costs becomes paramount.
The circumstances of gold-mining on the Rand have, therefore, features
quite distinct from those of quartz-reef, alluvial, or other kinds of
mining, and approximate to those of coal winning, especially in the
matter of the depth and regularity of the conglomerate formation. Its
peculiarities have created a method of mining, the outcome of costly
experiment, experience, and skill, which will remain a lasting asset to
future ages.
The future gold production of the Rand mining industry is a subject
which enchains the attention alike of the investor and the curious. In
approaching the subject of the unexploited gold contents of the banket
formation, figures are handled which simulate the fabulous, and almost
excuse the disbelief with which all such estimates are received in some
quarters. Confirmation of the approximate correctness of the
computations may, however, be obtained in two ways: firstly, from the
past yield of the gold-fields in the seventeen years since their start;
and secondly, from the verification of former prognostications which
subsequent outputs have furnished. So far as regards the former, the
fact of the production of £81,000,000 of gold since the start of the
industry up to now, under well-known circumstances is, in the first
place, proof positive that the gold exists; and, in the second, affords
inferential grounds for assuming that, given at all similar
circumstances, mining operations will yield like results. This is, of
course, taking the lowest ground, for it is indubitable that the
circumstances will not be alike, but vastly improved, in which case the
value of the results will be proportionately enhanced. As to the
confirmation which results from the verification which later outputs
have furnished, both of the trustworthiness of the bases on which former
forecasts were made and of the prognostications themselves, there may be
instanced the forecasts of such early computators as Mr. Hamilton Smith,
Mr. C. D. Rudd, and others. The former, in 1892, in a report on the
future production of the Rand fields, made by request of Messrs.
Rothschild, adventured an opinion which is worth quoting textually. He
said: "With the active and energetic men who have this industry in hand,
and always supposing that the foregoing theories be correct, in _three
or four years from now_ the producing power of the mines and their
reducing works will, I think, be increased to an output of _five or six
million tons of ore per annum_, worth a gross yield of over £10,000,000.
At this rate the available supply of ore, as conjectured above, will
last for more than thirty years."
As an actual fact, in four years from the time of his writing the above,
the Rand gold yield from 69 companies working amounted to 5,325,355
ozs., the total production being of the gross value of £10,583,616; so
that, far from his estimate being too sanguine or exaggerated, it was a
literal forecast of the actuality. He subsequently expressed the opinion
that the full producing power of the Rand would be reached by the end of
the century, when the output might be expected to exceed £12,500,000 per
annum. As a matter of fact the total value of gold produced in the
Transvaal in 1898 was over £15,000,000, most of which came from the
Rand, and, had mining operations in 1899 not been interrupted by the
war, the output in that year would have reached to over £18,000,000. Mr.
Smith based his estimate on a working depth of 5200 feet, and on an area
of the reef only 11 miles in extent, but since his time deep mining has
been successfully prosecuted to 7000 feet. Inference and analogy,
therefore, both afford strong support to the correctness of estimates,
based on the results of past working, of the future gold contents of the
Witwatersrand reefs, which estimates, as appears, are more likely to be
under-reckoned than otherwise, from the sheer immensity of the subject,
and from the necessarily imperfect knowledge of the potentialities of so
huge a problem.
The divergencies in the several estimates made from time to time in the
past of the total gold available from the Rand banket beds have in part
arisen from the sheer inability of those making the estimates to
anticipate the striking developments which have successively been made.
So far back as 1893, 325 millions, and subsequently 450 millions and 700
millions, have been adventured by various persons. The relative
moderateness of these estimates, compared with more recent ones, is due,
as in the case of that of Mr. Hamilton Smith, to the under-valuation of
the potentialities of deep-level mining, which are only now becoming
fully apparent. One of the more recent estimates--that of Mr.
Bleloch--based on working depths of 3000 to 7000 feet, and taken over an
area of fifty miles, embracing the district between Randfontein and
Holfontein, computes an available gold yield of £2,871,000,000 sterling,
or eight times as much as the estimate of 1893.
Although so enlarged, the total actually understates potentialities by
being exclusive of possible discoveries beyond these limits, and also by
the estimates being framed on the older ratios of gold recovery to ore
tonnage, thus ignoring the application of the latest scientific methods
to the treatment of the poorest ore, which would tend to enhance the
results considerably. Apart from these limitations, this estimate of
2871 millions is made in the most systematic manner, from careful
calculations, area by area, according to the thickness of the reefs, the
tonnage per claim, and the value per ton as they have been shown from
past working. The total tonnage of payable ore available is estimated at
1,378,000,000. The average gold value per ton of ore in the figures
works out at 41s. 7d., but in the actuality this varies from 78s. in the
richest mines down to actual loss in the least paying of low-grade ores.
In these stupendous figures are included the contributions of the great
deep-level mines, the growing proportions of whose contributions to the
aggregate output is already becoming a noteworthy feature, while the
extent of their development cannot be foreseen. Mining engineers are
indeed already considering the specifications of equipments for
negotiating depths deeper than 7000 feet, and even in 1899 the
possibility of mining at 12,000 feet was considered. Certainly the
mining of minerals in other parts of the world has shown the
feasibility of operations at much greater depths than those mentioned.
[Illustration: MINES ON THE LINE OF REEF AT JOHANNESBURG
Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen]
The ascertainment of the proximate gold contents of the Transvaal mining
area leads up to the question, How and when is this stupendous wealth to
be rendered available? In other words, what is likely to be the gold
production in the several years from now on, and how long will this rate
of production continue? or what are the chances of the early exhaustion
of the mining industry? To take the last item first, it is the growing
conviction of Rand mining engineers that the amount of available gold is
only limited by the extent to which mining operations can be prosecuted
below the surface. Mining engineers had up till recently generally
agreed to fix a depth of 8000 feet as the utmost limit to which
mechanical appliances and other circumstances will allow them to follow
the descent of the reefs, and the available gold yield is calculated on
this basis. But there is no finality in this statement of depth, and
already, as we have remarked, engineers are calculating for deeper
delvings, and 9000 and even 12,000 feet have been spoken of. This latter
increase of 4000 feet--from 8000 to 12,000 feet--would alone augment the
gold estimate by 50 per cent. For the rest, and retaining the 8000 feet
limit estimate as the measure of the exhaustion of the present Rand,
this is naturally controlled by the rate of production per year, which
itself is dependent on the particular circumstances of the industry
during the period in question.
The yearly production of gold from now onwards offers no insurmountable
obstacle to a fairly exact appreciation. It is merely a rule of three
calculation: if in the past, under given circumstances, working results
have been as follows; in the future, with the same or like
circumstances, the results will be such. Various computations from time
to time have been made on these bases, among the most recent being those
of Mr. Cooper-Key and Dr. Hatch in 1899, Mr. Goldring and Mr. Bleloch in
1901, and quite recently Messrs. Leggett and Hatch (on 47 miles of the
Rand only, and working to depths of 4000 to 7000 feet). Mr. Cooper-Key's
forecast, which was made in 1899, was for the output of the three
following years, the war not having then been anticipated. The basis of
his calculation, like that of Mr. Goldring's, was the number of stamps
or the milling power employed. If in 1898, he argued, there were in work
on the Central, Eastern, Far Eastern, and Western sections of the Rand
6000 stamps, at the end of 1899 this number would probably be increased
by 165, or to a total of 6165; at the end of 1900 the increase made
would be 1730 and the total 7895; at the end of 1901 the total would
have risen to 9845; and at the end of 1902 to 11,785. On the basis of
1800 tons milled per stamp, of an average value of £2 per ton, and with
an average number of stamps of 7000, 9000, and 10,500 in the three
years, the output would have been: 1900, £25,200,000; 1901, £32,400,000;
and 1902, £37,800,000. Mr. Goldring, who is the Secretary of the
Johannesburg Chamber of Mines, likewise framing his calculation on
certain yearly increases in the milling power, calculated that in the
five years following the full resumption of mining operations, 17,000
stamps would be at work, or an increase of 11,000 on the number before
the war. Allowing for a fall in the grade of ore milled, in consequence
of cheaper methods permitting of a lower grade of ore to be dealt with,
the 17,000 stamps, he considered, would produce at least £50,000,000
sterling a year. Writing before the war, and basing his estimate on
observations made by Mr. Eckstein that in five years the number of
stamps in working would be 12,000, Dr. Hatch, likewise following the
milling power basis, calculated for a yearly gold production of
£36,000,000. Mr. Bleloch's opinion, taking the production in the nine
working months of 1899 of £20,000,000 as a basis, is that the rate of
production would probably double itself after the war. "If this be so,"
he adds, "in fifty years' time the product of the Rand will have reached
over £2,000,000,000, and if such an accelerated progress is made, the
whole of the vast amount now estimated may be dug out of the Rand within
sixty or seventy years." The latest estimate published, that of Messrs.
Leggett and Hatch, going on the basis of the average increase of
production of £4,000,000 per year in the three years before the war, and
that the production in 1899--a broken year owing to the war--was
£19,000,000, concludes that, allowing eighteen months from January 1,
1902, for the industry to be restored to the conditions existing in
August 1899, a similar increase of production will bring the output to
at least £30,000,000 per annum by June 30, 1906, and if this rate of
production were to be maintained from then on, the total production of
£1,233,560,700 would give a life from January 1, 1902, of forty-two
years and a half. But as the production will decline gradually, instead
of coming to a sudden stop, the life of the industry is likely to be
prolonged for some considerable number of years beyond the period
indicated. If, on the other hand, the annual output should exceed
£30,000,000 for any considerable period, as is, perhaps, within the
bounds of possibility, this would partially offset the extension of life
due to the gradual decline of production. It is to be added, in
explanation of Messrs. Leggett and Hatch's estimate, that it
contemplates working along a strike of forty-seven miles only, and to
the restricted depth of from 4000 to 6000 feet.
The following tabulated comparison of these several estimates will
assist their comprehension, it being explained that Mr. Bleloch's
estimate is reduced to the extent of 25 per cent. as a set-off for
probably barren sections, &c.:--
+-----+--------------+----------+------------+---------------+-----------+
| | | | | Messrs. | |
|Year.|Mr. Cooper-Key|Dr. Hatch |Mr. Goldring|Leggett & Hatch|Mr. Bleloch|
| | (1899). | (1899). | (1901). | (1902). | (1901). |
+-----+--------------+----------+------------+---------------+-----------+
| | £ | £ | £ | £ | £ |
|1898 | ... | ... | 20,000,000 | ... | ... |
|1899 | ... | ... | ... | 19,000,000 | 20,000,000|
|1900 | 25,200,000 | ... | ... | ... | ... |
|1901 | 32,400,000 | ... | ... | ... | ... |
|1902 | 37,800,000 | ... | ... | ... | 15,000,000|
|1903 | ... | ... |} |} | 20,000,000|
|1904 | ... |36,000,000|}50,000,000 |} | 25,000,000|
|1905 | ... | ... |} each year |} |} |
|1906 | ... | ... |} |} |} |
|1907 | ... | ... |} |} |} |
|1908 | ... | ... | ... |} |} |
|1909 | ... | ... | ... |} |}35,000,000|
|1910 | ... | ... | ... |} 30,000,000 |} each year|
|1911 | ... | ... | ... |} each year |} |
|1912 | ... | ... | ... |} |} |
|1913 | ... | ... | ... |} |} |
|1914 | ... | ... | ... |} |} |
|1915 | ... | ... | ... |} |}40,000,000|
|1924 | ... | ... | ... |} |} each year|
|1925 | ... | ... | ... |} |}45,000,000|
|1934 | ... | ... | ... |} |} each year|
|1935 | ... | ... | ... | ... |}40,000,000|
|1944 | ... | ... | ... | ... |} each year|
|1945 | ... | ... | ... | ... |}30,000,000|
|1954 | ... | ... | ... | ... |} each year|
|1955 | ... | ... | ... | ... |}30,000,000|
|1964 | ... | ... | ... | ... |} each year|
|1965 | ... | ... | ... | ... |}15,000,000|
|1974 | ... | ... | ... | ... |} each year|
+-----+--------------+----------+------------+---------------+-----------+
These several estimates are of course to be looked upon merely as
approximations, and they are, moreover, not framed on exactly the same
bases. They, however, agree in the main that the 1899 output of roundly
£20,000,000 will be increased to some point between £30,000,000 and
£50,000,000 within a few years' time, and maintained thereat, more or
less continuously, for periods varying over 45 and 65 years. The
production of the several estimates for the whole period gives an
average of £37,000,000, which is only slightly higher than that of Mr.
Bleloch, which is £35,714,285. This, consequently, is the handsome
yearly output which the Rand mining industry offers in the near
future--an amount which alone equals the total production of the whole
world in 1897--if the circumstances are at least equal to those which
previously prevailed.
[Illustration: HEAD-GEAR OF THE WITWATERSRAND GOLD-MINING CO.
(Photo by Horace W. Nicholls, Johannesburg)]
Having advanced the question of the future of the mining industry to the
extent of showing a possible gold yield of at least 2,871 millions,
spread over a period of seventy years at the rate of between 37 and 40
millions a year, at a moderate estimate, it is pertinent to inquire
somewhat into the efficacy of the means for securing this return, the
location of anything and its appropriation being two distinct matters.
As implied previously, the realisation of this huge prospective gold
yield depends upon the circumstances of the industry being at least
equal to those of the past. If found to be superior, the ultimate
realisation will only be made the more certain. These circumstances may
be conveniently classified as external and internal. So far back as
the Industrial Commission of 1897 it was recognised that the essentials
for the development of the Rand were reduction of taxes and economy in
working. The evidence of all the prominent heads of mining groups, both
English and foreign, then tendered, in the sum amounted to this. Where
the circumstances of a mine are such that they can only be worked at a
higher cost than their returns, or with only an infinitesimal profit,
either costs must be reduced or the mine compelled to close down. In
many cases a reduction of working costs of so moderate an amount as 2s.
per ton means the life of a mine, and less than this spells bankruptcy.
Where mines had exhausted every effort to reduce working costs, it was
also contended with justice that they had established a claim for moral
and material assistance on the part of the Government, where it could be
properly accorded; indeed, a personal interest, so to say, attached to
Government interference, in that the national revenues were jeopardised
when mines failed of successful working. The assistances asked for by
the mining industry, and which the Government were able to accord, are
now notorious, but are worth reciting for the bearing they have on our
present subject. They were fiscal reforms conducing to cheapening of
labour by reducing the cost of living both for whites and natives;
increase in the effectiveness of native labour by the proper enforcement
of the Liquor Law, the cancellation of the local spirit monopoly, and
the withdrawal of the right of free imports of spirits from Mozambique
and the Orange Free State; abolition of monopolies which tended to
enhance the cost of materials used in the mines, including those of
dynamite, cement, &c.; reduction of rail rates, and abrogation, by
arrangement, of the transit dues levied by the coast Colonies, thus
lessening first and working costs of mining equipments and materials;
promotion of large public works directly or indirectly affecting the
mines, such as provision of adequate water supplies, construction of
railways, &c.; finally, an equitable and sympathetic attitude of the
Governing Power to all and every question having relation to the
country's staple industry. So far as these reforms were appraisable,
they were reckoned to be equivalent to a saving of not less than 6s. per
ton in working costs. What practical chance there was of gaining the
relief sought under the old _régime_ is shown by the futile results of
the Industrial Commission's labours.
[Illustration: DRIVING AN "END" IN MAY CONSOLIDATED MINE, JOHANNESBURG
In some places the holes for blasting are bored by Kaffirs, but as a
rule the drives are made with the use of boring machines driven by
compressed air. There are few accidents underground, as the rock is so
hard that there is little fear of the "levels" falling in. The chief
danger is from the gas after blasting ...]
But the altered circumstances of the mining industry since the war are
evidenced by the reforms already consummated and under weigh, comprising
among them some of the leading demands of 1897. This fact is conclusive
that, so far as external circumstances are concerned, the mining
industry is not only in the enjoyment of equally favourable
circumstances with those existing previously, but even greatly
superior. By so much, therefore, is the perspective of the gold yield to
which we have made allusion assisted towards becoming a reality.
[Illustration: KAFFIR COMPOUND, NEW PRIMROSE GOLD MINE, JOHANNESBURG]
As regards the internal circumstances on which the progress of the
mining industry depends, these are the employment of the most improved
methods and means of production. They comprise the most perfected
machinery and appliances, and the latest processes of metallurgical and
chemical science. Speaking generally, it may be said that on the Rand at
the present time are employed the most up-to-date skill and technical
knowledge, and the latest devised mechanical appliances. This, by the
way, is only true of individual mines however. The equipment of the mass
varies greatly, and necessarily so, since the conditions of one mine
differ vastly from those of its neighbour; and distant and even
contiguous localities require unlike treatment, according to the nature
of the ore or reef worked and other local conditions. The improvement
effected hitherto is evidence, however, of the initiation and energy
which have been displayed by the heads of the mining industry in the
past, and an earnest for the future, while the progress achieved abides
as an invaluable guide for all future mining operations in like
geological formations.
The knowledge of how best to treat the peculiarities of the banket reef
has, however, only been slowly gained, and at the cost of much money and
many unavoidable blunders. For instance, the only metallurgical
operation for the extraction of gold employed up to 1889 was the
stamping mill, and fine gold and amalgam were necessarily abundant in
the tailings which were cast away on the spoil heap. The cyanide
process, and that of the treatment of slimes, were only applied in 1891
and 1898 respectively. Their use has added millions to the yearly output
of gold. The amalgamation process, the chlorination treatment of
concentrates, and the use of frue vanners are other innovations
gradually introduced as results of experiment and experience, and which
have likewise increased the efficacy of the extractive operations.
Similar progress has been shown in the improvement effected in the
mechanical equipment. At first the mining operations were confined to
the primitive digging of a huge trench over the site of the outcrop,
with the simplest delver's tools furnished by the locality. This method
has advanced to the stage of sinking shafts to the enormous depth of a
mile into the bowels of the earth, equipped with the most elaborate
hoisting plant, with underground equipment lit and worked by
electricity, and the complementary surface establishments, at a cost
running into hundreds of thousands of pounds. There yet lies before the
industry the general adoption, not only of these but of other
improvements which experience has shown to be desirable, such as the
practice of sorting of ore, the use of heavier batteries on the score of
greater economy, &c., and their utilisation is merely a question of
time. As, therefore, all these improvements and betterments have been
successively made, and the mining industry is only now gradually--it is
not yet, so far as a large number of them are concerned--entering into
the full use of them, it is obvious that future mining operations must
not only enjoy the same favouring circumstances as those which enabled
the huge mining output of the past, but a very much better environment,
through the more general use of all those methods which experience and
science have shown to be advisable. As a consequence, and in the measure
of the value of these improvements, will the effective output be
ameliorated from now onwards.
The value of the improved circumstances of the mining industry alluded
to is convertible into figures in the terms of working costs and
divisible dividends. The former may be said to be the barometer of the
latter. In the past, in the early days of the mining industry, when the
problems of mine equipment and gold extraction and winning were only
imperfectly understood, the wasteful expenditure of money on inefficient
methods and appliances swallowed up in many cases every vestige of
profit.
[Illustration: CYANIDE WORKS. WITWATERSRAND GOLD-MINING CO.
(Photo by Horace W. Nicholls, Johannesburg)]
It was incidental to the first operations on the then unknown geological
formation of the Rand, when the very science of the goldfields had to be
created. Costs of working on the Rand are now, through the excellent
system devised by the Chamber of Mines, tabulated so that the outlay of
individual mines, or of the mining industry in the aggregate, may be
seen at any moment at a glance. For instance, taking the record for the
eight years from 1890 to 1898 inclusive, for example, the working costs
ranged from 80.8 per cent. of the total value of the gold produced by
eighty-five companies in 1890 down to 68.1 per cent. in 1898, the last
full year before the war, the decrease showing the extent of the
progress made in reducing the working costs. Simultaneously the
dividends increased from 19.2 to 31.9 per cent., testifying to the close
kinship with the costs factor. These figures are a general average taken
over the aggregate of the mines working, and do not represent the ratios
of working costs of individual mines, which differ of course according
to the greater richness of the ore, the fewer difficulties to be
dealt with in winning it, and the methods employed to secure the end in
view. This is exemplified by the fact that in a few of the best equipped
mines costs have been brought down to as low as 17s. 6d. per ton, while
on others they rise to 79s. 6d. and above. The Robinson mine is a case
where, despite adverse circumstances, the enlightened employment of the
latest appliances of science and mechanics has resulted in reducing
costs to an extremely low level. In 1888 the working costs of the mine
were 72s. 1d. per ton; in 1892 they were reduced to 46s. 5d., and in
1896 to 30s. 11d. They have subsequently been reduced to a still lower
figure, and this despite the fact that the ore changed from an oxidised
character to a pyritic, involving greater difficulty and cost to treat.
This mine was the first to introduce frue vanners, the cyanide process
and the treatment of slimes, expending as much as £80,000 in the last
innovation. By means of these it raised its gold extraction from 65 to
90 per cent., and gave encouragement and impetus to all mining on these
fields. The latest costs published for the month of September this year
of thirty-six mines in working give an average of 26s. 3d. per ton,
which shows that operating charges are now at about the same ratio as
they were before the war. Although so reduced, however, they are still
relatively higher than they may be expected to be when the mines settle
back into their normal grooves. The reason for this is that only a few
mines are now working up to their full battery power, and, while costs
are on the full scale, results are less, surface dumps are being drawn
upon for mill service instead of the mine itself, owing to lack of full
supply of labour, &c. When, however, the effects of the important fiscal
reductions just made have had time to exercise their effect in reducing
the cost of imported mining stores, foodstuffs, and the smaller
machinery and metal goods charged by the mines to the working account,
further reductions in the working costs will be possible. Of the actual
money value of this per ton of ore milled, various opinions have been
ventured. It has been estimated by experts that it is possible under
favouring circumstances to reduce the expense of working by some 10s.
per ton, at which rate ore yielding over 5.6 dwt. per ton bullion could
be made to yield a profit. The importance of this not only in improving
the present position of all mining undertakings, but in stimulating the
low-grade mines to come into the working stage, can hardly be
overestimated. With the various difficulties besetting the mining
industry removed, the future working cost level should be lower than at
any preceding period, taking into account the benefit of the recent
fiscal reductions and other governmental assistance in prospect.
[Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF THE SURFACE WORKS OF A RAND GOLD MINE
(KNIGHT'S)
Showing the head-gear at top of the shaft, the stacks locating the
engine-rooms. A sloping tramway will be seen leading down from the
shaft-head, and iron waggons bringing the crushed ore, and taking it
away to the "battery" or "mill." The waggons are driven by an endless
wire rope, and discharge automatically. Beyond, in the middle distance,
may be seen the huge white heap of "tailings," the waste débris after
the gold has been extracted. Each mine has its own electric-light plant.
Photo by Barnett & Co., Johannesburg]
Allusion has been made to the probable continuation of the Rand
formation beyond its present area; but, as a matter of fact, the
Witwatersrand series of reefs, or an amplification of them, has been
more or less proved for a distance of nearly one hundred miles to the
north and south. The strike of the reefs is not uniformly continuous--in
fact, the reefs are intersected by quite a numerous series of faults,
and in many places they have been subjected to extensive denudation, to
the extent of complete obliteration of the outcrop in places.
Nevertheless at various points very remunerative mines have been
established, and although, on the whole, the character of possessing a
low-grade ore is attributed to these reefs, this is probably due more to
the very incomplete prospecting to which the area has been subjected
than to any actual lack contrasted with the better known central section
of the Rand. On this subject Mr. Bleloch makes the apposite observation
that "it is not reasonable to think that only the richest portions of
the Witwatersrand zones have been laid open on the surface, and that the
sections which remain covered are poor. It is probable that many
portions of these hidden areas contain reefs, if not rich at least
payable, and this may especially be hoped for in that region where the
reefs are completely hidden, and at the two ends of which, where they
are exposed, they are found to be payable."
[Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF SURFACE WORKS. WITWATERSRAND GOLD-MINING
CO.
(Photo by Horace W. Nicholls, Johannesburg)]
The eastern section of this greater Rand is about 30 miles in extent, or
140 miles if the contours of the outcrops be followed. In the western
section the conglomerate may be followed for 90 miles as far as
Klerksdorp, when the formation swerves back to the Vaal River. So far
back as 1890 gold-bearing reefs on the banks of the Vaal River were
known, and identified by experts as the south-western rim of the
Witwatersrand basin; but lack of railway facilities and cheap coal then
precluded their profitable working. This district is now surrounded by
railways, and the circumstances are so improved that the possibility of
creating a new Rand in the locality is regarded as feasible by both
experts and capitalists, as, albeit only low-grade ore has as yet been
met with, this is properly held to be hardly a fair index of what lies
below, for experience in the Central Rand has shown that the reefs often
improve lower down. The recently reported "new discoveries" of reefs
actually refer to this particular district.
The prospect before these outlying areas of the Rand is further
authoritatively confirmed by a recent report of the Commissioner of
Mines, in which he observes: "While the expansion of the Witwatersrand
is certain, the future of mining in the outlying districts will largely
depend upon the introduction of a mining law which will give greater
facilities and hold out greater rewards to the individual prospector and
small capitalist." This observation is true regarding many other mining
fields in the Transvaal besides that of the Greater Rand.
Although in speaking of gold-mining in the Transvaal the Witwatersrand
is usually meant, it must not be lost sight of that the Transvaal
possesses other gold-fields of great potentialities and of older date.
The De Kaap fields in the Barberton district were the object of
attention before those of the Witwatersrand were discovered, and at one
time bulked hugely in the public eye. Unknown reserves, both of alluvial
and quartz gold, exist, those reefs of the latter which have been worked
yielding in many cases a much higher ratio of gold to the ton than do
the famed banket beds of the Witwatersrand. The Sheba mine in this
district, a case in point, is one of the most remarkable gold mines in
the world, nearly 90 feet of ore having been taken out of some stopes.
The quartz reefs extend over a distance of 30 miles, mainly in the hilly
districts, while the alluvium occurs in most of the river valleys. The
development of the district in the past has been hampered by a number of
remediable causes, chief among which are unscientific working,
monopolist concessions, excessive railway and customs burdens, and
general governmental neglect. With the removal of these, gold-mining
here is believed by experts to offer prospects not inferior, perhaps, to
those of the Rand. The recent Government proclamation throwing open the
district to pegging, with the contemplated modifications in the Gold
Law favouring prospectors, are earnests that this splendid mineral
reserve will at last have that justice done to it which is its due. Next
in importance to the De Kaap gold-fields come those of the Lydenburg
district. The gold exists here in a similar quartz reef formation, with,
also, unusually rich alluvial tracts; but not one-tenth of its resources
are known, although since the start of the workings an output valued at
£2,000,000 sterling has been achieved. A number of paying companies are
at work, but the drawbacks under which the development of these fields
labour are very much those which prevail on the Barberton fields. The
northern gold-beds, including the Zoutpansberg, Klein Letaba, Murchison,
Selati, &c., are likewise of the quartz formation, and they have been
worked to a limited extent over a longer period than either of the two
preceding fields. The Murchison gold-belt is particularly noticeable
among these fields. The principal or southern reef, 18 inches in
thickness, is said to extend for 18 miles, and to be workable down to
1000 feet, and to contain a gold contents of £25,000,000 sterling. The
northern reef is estimated to be capable of producing £20,000,000 of
gold. Development waits, in all these auriferous regions, primarily on
the provision of railway facilities to get up machinery and mining
requisites; and the extension of the Pietersburg line, which has been
promised, or the completion of the long-projected Selati railway from
where it left off, would be as the breath of life to the mining industry
here. Two other promising mining fields, generally separately grouped
but really a portion of the De Kaap system, are the Komati or Steynsdorp
and the Swazieland gold-fields. The former exists on the Swazieland
border, not far from Barberton, and is rightly regarded as merely an
outlier of the mineral formations of that district. The numerous reefs
have, however, only yielded as yet low-grade and refractory ores. The
Swazieland fields have only been prospected in the north-west of that
territory, but the results have shown that a considerable body of ore
exists. Its gold output in 1898 totalled 8256 oz. Minor fields are those
of Malmani, on the western border near Mafeking, the Pretoria quartz
reefs, and the banket beds of Vryheid (the last now incorporated into
Natal). The prospects of all these fields are very large, and their
requirements are alike. Conditions tending to lessen the cost of
working, and facilities to induce the advent of the prospector and to
justify the investment of capital, will reverse in their cases the
dubious records of the past, while adding immensely to the wealth of the
Transvaal's gold production resources.
[Illustration: PRITCHARD STREET, JOHANNESBURG
Photo by Horace W. Nicholls, Johannesburg]
[Illustration: MAP SHEWING THE RELATIVE POSITIONS OF THE TRANSVAAL GOLD
FIELDS.
_From "South Africa," by permission._]
The sum of the foregoing observations is that the future of the
Transvaal mining industry presents a vista of incalculable prosperity.
In the restricted area of the Central Rand alone there is a treasure
of at least £2,871,000,000 awaiting appropriation; and, beyond this huge
sum, there are reserves in the Greater Rand which, reckoned on the basis
of mileage alone, would sixfold this amount. Moreover, as the confines
of the Rand reef formation have not yet been determined, should they be
found to stretch into Natal and Zululand on the one hand, or into
Rhodesia on the other, as recent discoveries would seem to indicate, the
productive possibilities of the future are enlarged proportionately.
Apart from its banket reefs the Transvaal likewise possesses huge gold
reserves in its quartz reef fields in the De Kaap, Lydenburg,
Zoutpansberg, and other districts to the south-east, east, and north,
not to speak of the already opened and promising grounds on the extreme
west, which await development when the Rand conglomerate beds are
exhausted, if they do not--as in all probability they will--receive
attention beforehand. The value of these resources is attested by the
best of all evidence--that of actual productive yield in the past. In
the matter of circumstances, means, and paying results from mining, it
has been shown, and it is incontestible, that the industry now stands,
in every particular, upon a much more advantageous basis than it ever
enjoyed. As regards processes and mechanical appliances, the new era
opens with the substantial asset in hand represented by the accumulated
skill and knowledge of past painful and costly experience and
experiment, so that new mines making a start may lay down their
equipments with the greatest practical certainty and economy and
assurance of successful results, even on low-grade properties previously
deemed unremunerative. In respect of external circumstances, the
conditions are already so improved, or in course of improvement, that
working costs have been--and will be more so in the future, when all the
beneficent proposals contemplated by the Government, and the local
advantages resulting from the new order of things have had time to come
into operation--lessened to the extent of yielding substantial
accretions to the dividends of the already paying mines, while
facilitating the development of the deeper mines, and the multitude of
minor low-grade concerns hitherto incapable of profitable working.
Estimates have been adventured in the earlier part of this chapter of
the amount of the saving of working costs to the extent of 10s. per ton,
but this is a pure approximation, and the actual outcome is likely to be
twofold or more. Similarly the yield of gold per year from the Rand
central district of 37 to 40 millions is only a rough estimate, the
production in the future, as in the past, being likely to be much above
the forecasts, taking into view the beneficent circumstances which will
henceforth rule, the full appraisement of which is at present
impossible.
[Illustration: A MAP OF THE RHODESIAN GOLD FIELDS.
_From "South Africa," by permission._]
Altogether, therefore, the outlook is one of undimmed brightness, for
the misgivings entertained in some quarters regarding new taxation
burdens to be imposed, calculated to hamper or hinder the progress of
the industry, must be allowed to have no shadow of substance. The
pronouncements of the Government hitherto, and the recommendations of
their Transvaal adviser, are clear on this head. Taxation will naturally
have to be borne, and the tax on profits was accepted in principle by
the mining industry before the war. Its incidence, whatever be the
amount, will only reduce to a fractional extent that portion of the
yield set apart for dividends, which will bear the burden, whatever it
be, with the greater ease in view of the accretion of dividends rendered
possible by the new conditions. There are, indeed, grounds for assuming
that a part of the agitation on foot is lacking in singleness of aim,
and engineered by persons who have some secondary object to gain. The
rank and file of the mining industry, as well as the best sense of the
Anglo-Saxon community, has, however, confidence in the Government that
it will do nothing harmful to the best interests of the new Colonies in
general, and its staple industry in particular, and, moreover, will be
true to the English principle of inviting the taxed to its councils. It
is in this particular light that the visit of the Secretary of State for
the Colonies to South Africa has such special interest at this
juncture.
[Illustration: MILL (OR BATTERY) OF A GOLD MINE (SALISBURY AND JUBILEE,
JOHANNESBURG)
The powdered ore is washed down over the plates. The deafening roar from
the stamps sounds in quiet evenings, from a distance, like the roar of
the sea on a rocky coast.
Photo by Barnett & Co., Johannesburg]
THE AGRICULTURAL OUTLOOK
BY LOUIS CRESWICKE
Almost the last message of that prophetic statesman Rhodes was
characteristic: "Support Milner through thick and thin," he curtly and
emphatically said. It is therefore Lord Milner's opinion of the future
settlement of the country which should not merely be read, but marked
and learnt and inwardly digested, by all who are anxious for the
development of British interests in the new Colonies, and who shrink
from a recurrence of the horrible scenes of the past, which owed their
origin mainly to long years of vacillation on the part of Governments
that "swallowed up" the Boers at one moment only to disgorge them the
next. Lord Milner, as Mr. Chamberlain has put it, "is the most effective
instrument in our possession." To his subtle yet gigantic brain, to his
detailed yet comprehensive labours, we are indebted for a plan out of
the chaos, a practical plan by which Briton and Boer may be efficiently
planted side by side on the soil for the agricultural and political
well-being of the newly-acquired Colonies.
It must be remembered that the agricultural resources of the conquered
territory have hitherto been inadequately developed. As it was half a
century ago, so it remains to-day--a pastoral country importing its
cereals, its dairy produce, and even its hay from foreign parts. The
motto of the Boer has never been "Forward," nor has industry been his
strong point. The happy farmstead of five thousand acres which served to
keep his ancestor, served also to keep him comfortably till the date of
the war. Progress lay not with him but with the British settlers in the
region of the Rand, or with the crafty Hollanders who pulled the wires
of the misguided autocrat whose ambitious aim was to "stagger humanity."
The sole appreciable advance came from Great Britain. While mining
hummed apace, agriculture crept laboriously; the country, teeming with
promise, remained in parts entirely barren, in others overrun by the
uncombatted yellow tulip or the incango, both weeds deadly to the soil.
The veldt and the karroo, say the pessimists, offer no home for the
Englishman. They moreover aver that only so long as the mines hold out
will the settler remain in South Africa. But there are others, Lord
Kitchener and Lord Milner among them, who see in the country the latent
possibility of modern North America, or, at least, a great agricultural
future which will endure long after the history of the mineral districts
is a closed volume. The science of irrigation in its most modern
development--"the foundation-stone on which can be built the permanent
prosperity of South Africa"--is capable of transforming the profitless
deserts into flowering gardens and fruitful orchards which in very few
years will do more than pay their way. But to properly develop any
scheme requiring eternal vigilance, industry, and foresight, it is
necessary that a goodly sprinkling of the enterprising British
population shall be dispersed all over the land, so that not in the
towns alone will the characteristics of the dominant race be maintained.
[Illustration: WELLWOOD FARM IN GRAAFF REINET DISTRICT
(Mixed grass and karroo veldt)]
Some one has said South Africa must irrigate or perish. This may be a
truism; but it is also very certain that South Africa, while irrigating,
must offer homes to a leavening mass of sound and desirable British
settlers before the irrigation schemes under discussion can effect the
agricultural transformation which, in British hands, might speedily come
to pass. The nature of this settlement and the expedition of it, from an
economic, social, and political point of view, is declared by Lord
Milner to be of supreme importance. A new and progressive farming
population must reinforce the old; for, it is most essential "that the
old condition of things shall not be reproduced, in which the race
division coincided almost completely with a division of interests, the
whole country population being virtually Boer, while the bulk of the
industrial and commercial population was British." The three great
essentials of any successful scheme, according to Lord Milner's showing,
are these: it must have magnitude, it must deal with land of good
quality, it must attract settlers of the right kind. In the matter of
magnitude there are many and intricate questions to be discussed. Land
settlement must be undertaken on a large scale else it will be
politically unimportant, the Boer States will remain Boer States in all
but name, and any money advanced by the British speculator will be like
the talent hidden in a napkin--just a talent and nothing more, till the
end of the chapter! The Government must assert its paternity; it must
control, it must assist. On all sides simultaneous effort must be made
to march in time with the progressive note that, once struck, must be
continuously and consistently re-echoed throughout the length and
breadth of the new Colonies. The best quality of land must invite the
best quality of settler, though regulations must be sufficiently elastic
to meet the wants of the settler with capital, and also those of the
settler with little more than practical experience. They must vary, too,
with the varying character of the farms. The reason for this necessity
has concisely been explained by Lord Milner: "Take only the broad
distinction between dry and irrigated farms, familiar to every South
African. Evidently a much larger area is required in the former than in
the latter, while the experience needed by the farmer would vary greatly
in the two cases. In the former he would be mainly employed in
stock-raising, while in the latter in the cultivation of cereals; and in
favourable neighbourhoods market gardening would be the most profitable
industry. Australian ranchers seem peculiarly suited to the high veldt,
while the corn lands of the 'Conquered Territory' could have no better
occupants than young progressive farmers from the Scottish lowlands. And
there are intermediate types of farms suited to settlers of the most
varied experience and resources."
A rough draft of the terms on which the Orange River Colony Government
proposed to offer Government land to British settlers affords an insight
into the big projects that are afoot. The draft was submitted to the
British Government about the middle of 1902 in order that sanction might be
given to the principle of the conditions set forth. Here--abbreviated--are
the conditions of lease:--
"The settler shall pay the annual rent due by him to the
Government in half-yearly instalments, the first of which shall
be due six months after his taking possession. The settler
holding under a lease shall have the right, with the approval
of the Government, at any time after the completion of his
first year's tenancy, to enter upon the system of purchase by
instalments, by giving three months' notice to the Government
of his intention to do so before the date when his next
half-yearly instalment falls due. In that case his leasehold
tenure shall be held to cease from the date of the payment of
such instalment, and he shall be entitled to acquire the land
on the same terms as a settler taking it on the purchase
system, save and except that he shall not have a year's grace
before beginning to purchase by instalments, but that the first
of his sixty half-yearly instalments shall become due six
months after the date of his last payment under the lease.
Every lease shall be for five years, but shall be renewable at
the option of the settler for a further period of five or ten
years."
The grounds on which the Government may cancel the lease shall be the
following:--
"Failure to pay in full any half-yearly instalment of rent, or
any sum due in respect of advances within three months of its
becoming due.
"Neglect to cultivate the land in a proper and husbandlike
manner to the satisfaction of the Government, or to apply any
money advanced by the Government for the purpose specified.
"Conviction for any criminal offence punishable by death or by
imprisonment without option of a fine."
The Government will be prepared to make advances to the settler for such
permanent improvements as the Government may approve, such as drainage,
fencing, farm buildings, tree-planting, the sinking of wells, making of
roads, reclamation of waste land, or any other work calculated to
permanently enhance the value of the land, provided--
"That the sum of such advances shall not at any time exceed the
capital which the settler has himself expended, or can satisfy
the Government that he is prepared to expend, in connection
with the cultivation of the land.
"That the total outstanding amount at any one time shall not
exceed five times the rent of the land."
All advances made by the Government in accordance with the foregoing
section shall be repaid by the settler with interest at £5 per centum
within ten years by twenty equal half-yearly instalments.
Among the conditions of purchase it is stated:--
"The settler shall acquire the freehold of the land by paying
to the Government for the period of thirty years an annual sum
amounting to £5, 15s. per centum of the purchase price. This
annual sum shall be paid in two half-yearly instalments of £2,
17s. 6d. per centum of such price.... If the settler affix to
his holding any engine, machinery, or any other fixture, or
erect a building which he is not authorised by the Government
to affix or erect, the said fixture or building shall be the
property of the settler and removable by him within a
reasonable time after the cancellation of his contract,
provided that he first discharges all debts due by him to the
Government, and that after the removals he makes good any
unavoidable damage thereby occasioned. The settler must give
one month's notice of his intention to remove such fixture or
building, and on receipt of such notice the Government may
elect to purchase such fixtures or building after a valuation
as provided for."
During the currency of the contract of purchase the settler will not be
liable to pay any quit-rent or land-tax, or to make any other payment to
the Government than those provided for by the contract. But from the
time of the land becoming the freehold of the settler under any of the
provisions it shall be subject to any quit-rent or land tax payable to
the Government, to which any other freehold land may from time to time
be subject, according to the laws of the Orange River Colony. The
settler shall be liable, both before and after the acquisition of the
freehold, to pay any rates which may be lawfully levied on the land for
local purposes, but such rates shall not, during the period of thirty
and a half years from the date of the settler's taking possession under
the contract of purchase, exceed 1d. per £1 per annum of the purchase
price of the land.
In reply to the Colonial Secretary's telegram stating his belief that
the settlement of farmers from England would not be successful unless
the farms were close together, Lord Milner answered: "I quite agree that
farmers from home should not be isolated. But we want farms of various
characters. Dry farms, as you suppose, are much in demand by
Australians. I have a number of excellent applicants of this class, and
could to-morrow dispose of twice as many dry farms as we possess in
healthy parts of the Transvaal to selected Australasians who have served
in war and have agricultural experience and some capital. Generally
speaking, I do not think it desirable to encourage agricultural settlers
from home. It would be better to give the first chance to the men on the
spot, whether oversea colonists or yeomen. This would not permanently
exclude men from home, as a long time must elapse before we can deal
with some of the land we have, and I hope to go on acquiring more. But
land immediately available should be offered to those already here who
cannot afford to wait."
Everything mainly depends on the size of the settlement scheme. To be of
use it must be rapidly pushed forward with all the vigour that the
Government can bring to bear on the subject. The ball, once effectively
set rolling, would then move by the force of its own impetus. First some
three or four thousand settlers on land acquired by Government would set
the example, and quickly, round them would flock private persons from
the oversea Colonies or Great Britain who, discovering that the
Government meant business, would follow suit, acquire land, and settle
down in British constellations, so that the sharp social and political
division between town and country would cease to exist and the past
state of agricultural stagnation could never return. Thus, much would be
done "to consolidate South African sentiment in the general interests of
the Empire."
[Illustration: A FARM IN THE KARROO PROPER
(A typical stone-faced earth bank of a water dam in foreground)]
In regard to the quality of the land, a very small quantity of the land
available in the Transvaal is suited to British settlers, and but
little, though excellent, Government land is to be obtained in the
Orange River Colony. In both Colonies most of the land is privately
owned. Much of this land may come into the market, and many farmers may
be found willing to part with a portion of their property in order to
obtain capital for the restocking of the other portion. But, thinks Lord
Milner, unless the Government is armed with a general power of
expropriation--not necessarily for use save in emergency--it will be
impossible to get sufficient land, or even to make the best use of the
land we already have or may hereafter acquire by voluntary purchase.
For, knowing his Boer through and through, he rightly assumes that one
or two recalcitrant owners might prevent an irrigation scheme for a
whole district, or otherwise obstruct the distribution of a given area
into farms suitable for settlers. But, far from wishing to dispossess
the Boer farmer and create a class of landless and discontented men,
Lord Milner expresses his belief that it is our duty and interest to
preserve the Boer as a farmer though not as a large negligent landowner.
Unless land is purchased and British settlers are speedily installed, an
opportunity will be lost which will never recur, and neglect of the
present may endanger the future peace and prosperity of South Africa. In
fact, the key to the situation, the key to the gate which will let in a
steady influx of agricultural immigrants, is made up of two
things--powers of expropriation and money.
There are naturally many quibblers belonging to the "Foreigners' friend
and Britons' foe" party who look askance at these proposals, and,
indeed, at any proposals which might endow colonisation with what they
call a political, but which should properly be termed an Imperial,
trend. The idea of outnumbering the Dutch inhabitants seems to them
preposterous--even vindictive. They would prefer the British Government
and the British taxpayers, in matters connected with their own policy
and their own expenditure, to be out-voiced by the inhabitants of the
territory they have spent blood and treasure to conquer. But to discuss
the arguments of these quibblers would be sheer waste of time and of
space. Obstructions ever have their value. As the impediment in the
shell of the oyster brings about the growth of the pearl, so the
obstruction in the bivalve of politics has brought forth the jewel of
Imperial solidarity.
But it may as well be mentioned that the expropriation suggestion which
also excites the ire of Radicals, is by no means an invention solely
directed against the Boers in the conquered States. The precedent is to
be found in the legislation of New Zealand. The Land for Settlements
Act, 1894, enables the Government of that Colony, if no private
agreement can be arrived at, to take land compulsorily for settlement,
subject to a price fixed by valuation and a certain compensation.
As regards settlers--the third great essential of Lord Milner's
scheme--the future looks rosy enough. There are many who served in the
war and have a right to preference, who are eager to live on the land
and farm it, and who do not seek to acquire it merely as a speculation
or a makeshift. Hundreds of hale and hearty fellows, men of experience
and resource, men who have the pluck to succeed, and men who have the
courage to challenge failure, have already offered themselves and wait
patiently till their turn may arrive. Were the land forthcoming, it
would not be exaggeration to say that some 10,000 and more of our
fellow-countrymen would be cultivating it within the twelvemonth.
NATAL
The progressive mood of Natal should afford sufficient encouragement to
even the most wary speculators. Here, for the purpose of attracting
tenant farmers, the plan is to form agricultural settlements resembling
the close colonies of New Zealand, the settlements to be planted on
areas irrigated by Government works. According to Sir Albert Hime,
irrigation here intensifies cultivation tenfold, and so enables a farmer
to get his living off one-tenth of the amount of land that would
otherwise be required, and furthermore assures his crop. Owing to the
broken nature of the country, the irrigable areas are small in size and
suited mainly for supporting settlements of small cultivators. Such
settlements, wherever started, however, have proved unmistakably
prosperous, and it only remains for the Natal Government to introduce
its scheme of close settlements to the notice of the right form of
emigrant in order to render the "Garden Colony" eternally rich in green
things upon the earth. At present sugar-planting, thanks to the system
of central mills, is in a flourishing state. The same may be said of
tea-planting, which owes much to the continuous efforts of Sir J. L.
Hulett, whose "gardens" are the most important in Natal.
The demand for the wattle bark is on the increase. This tree (_Acacia
Mollissima_), originally brought from Australia, soon became
acclimatised in Natal, where there are now 50,000 acres of wattle
plantation. The wattle bark is exported to England, while the
tree--stripped of its bark--serves for poles which are much in demand in
the Rand mines. It is said that land for wattle-growing may be purchased
at from eighteen to twenty-five shillings an acre, the cost of ploughing
and planting may be estimated at from thirty-two to fifteen shillings an
acre. It takes some six years before cutting down can be begun, but
then, the probable net profits would be nearly half the gross returns.
[Illustration: A KAFFIR VILLAGE.]
With the development of the Rand the demand for timber will increase by
leaps and bounds, and the market for wattle bark as a tanning
material will advance proportionately. As an instance of the increase in
the demand for bark, it may be stated that the exports were valued at
£69,850 in 1901 as against £30,929 in 1898.
Elsewhere, expansion and development will be the direct result of
irrigation. To those interested in South Africa, the future, whether
prospectively considered or practically discussed, must hinge on the
water-supply and the cunning practice of water-storage.
Mr. Willcocks (now Sir William Willcocks) of the Egyptian Irrigation
Department, one of the most experienced men, indeed one of the greatest
experts in irrigation in the world, when asked to contribute to this
volume, said "it would indeed afford him much pleasure to co-operate,"
but, owing to the great pressure of affairs, he could not do credit to
any other work he might undertake. But his report on South Africa is so
admirable an exposition of the possibilities of the country, seen from
the then standpoint, that merely to quote some of its most salient
features were preferable to inviting the opinion of a lesser authority.
Plainly, the expert tells us that, with the exception of the south-west
corner of the Cape Colony, the "conquered territory" of the Orange River
Colony, and the high veldt of the Transvaal, the agricultural
development of the whole country depends on irrigation. The high-lying
plateau of South Africa has by its situation a rainfall suited to
tropical countries, and, owing to its altitude, a climate which belongs
to a temperate zone. The autumn rains of February and March, which are
monsoon rains, would in a country like India be of infinite value; but
followed, as they are in South Africa, by a severe and biting winter,
they are of little value for agricultural purposes. The long winter and
spring drought, and the uncertain summer rains, absolutely prohibit
agriculture of any advanced kind. In certain favoured tracts--such as a
fifth of Cape Colony, half the Orange River Colony, and two-thirds of
the Transvaal--Indian corn, potatoes, roots generally, and pumpkins for
feeding stock in winter, can be grown with the aid of the rainfall, and
matured in all but years of heavy drought. By means of crop rotations,
suitable manures, and good tillage, agricultural development of no mean
value could be accomplished within a decade, especially if taken in
conjunction with stock-breeding, the principal industry of the country.
But, in other parts of the colonies, water comes when it is of no value,
and is absent when it would be worth untold gold. To avoid this
inconvenience, Mr. Willcocks says, we have only to imitate nature and
impound on the surface of the ground the same water which she stores in
caverns and fissures; and for instance of what even inferior water may
do with the rich soil of South Africa, he gives the Kenilworth Oasis
(within a few miles of Kimberley), which is irrigated by the refuse
water of the diamond mines.
Generally speaking, the annual rainfall is sufficient to allow of the
storage of water on a very large scale. Cape Colony with the aid of its
rainfall, together with the Orange River, should be able to ensure the
perennial irrigation of 1,000,000 acres, the Orange River Colony of
750,000 acres, and the Transvaal of 500,000 acres in the high-lying
regions and 1,000,000 in the low tracts, which tracts Mr. Willcocks
recommends should be thrown open to our fellow British-Indian subjects.
[Illustration: VERMONT MERINO EWES]
Seeing that agriculture without irrigation is generally impossible
throughout the new colonies, it must be admitted that the secret of
their development lies first and foremost in the ingenious storage of
water. The rainfall is like the traditional Offenbachian policemen,
"when wanted, never there," and when it is not wanted it is invariably
present. Therefore it is necessary for the Government to proclaim the
countries themselves as arid or semi-arid, and legislate accordingly.
Italian irrigation laws may be taken as a model for all arid and
semi-arid countries in the possession of Europeans. The Government of
Cavour decreed the rivers and torrents as public property, and, as such,
the property of the Government representing the people. Ancient and
vague irrigation rights standing in the way of legislation were promptly
disposed of, and the Government set itself to legislate for future
concessions, to which wise and strong measure modern Italy owes much of
its prosperity.
It is decided that all important irrigation works should be carried
forth by the State, and not, as in America, by individuals or
concessionaire companies, for experience shows that private enterprise
has often disastrous results, because of the difficulty in realising
immediate returns from the investment. The slow and sure methods of a
Government in the control of the works--their construction, ownership,
and administration--is the only successful method. Such works, well
conceived and well executed, bring in a direct benefit to the State if
allowed to develop on slow and natural lines; they also bring in
indirect benefits which a State reaps from increase of wealth of every
kind.
With the increased demand for agricultural labour, caused by the
development of the country, the poor white problem will be solved. The
sole kind of manual labour which appeals to the poor white is
agricultural labour, since he cannot work in competition with black
labour.
Mr. Willcocks considers that, in order to save the country from dropping
from the height of prosperity to poverty, part of the profits of the
mines should be invested in irrigation works for the permanent
development of the country. "The mineral wealth of the Transvaal is
extraordinarily great, but it is exhaustible, some say in within the
space of fifty, others within the space of a hundred, years. It would be
a disaster, indeed, for the country, if none of this wealth were devoted
to the development of its agriculture. Agricultural development is slow,
but it is permanent and knows of no exhaustion." After recommending the
adoption of the metric system of weights and measures--which is superior
to all other systems--he takes the sections of the three colonies and
describes them in detail. The technicalities of irrigation must be
studied separately, but the characteristics of the country are
interesting to all.
THE SOUTH-WESTERN CORNER OF THE CAPE COLONY
The abundant winter rains render this, one of the wheat districts of the
Colony, independent of irrigation in winter. The farms, in size about
2000 acres, appear too large to be profitably worked by poor farmers.
Ploughing is done perfunctorily, and no rotation of leguminous crops
with serials is attempted, because it is believed that there is no
market in Cape Town for beans and other legumins. Mr. Willcocks suggests
as a remedy the construction of an agricultural railway through this
district, so that the disposal of fodder would be simplified. He also
proposes the exchange of seeds between Egypt, which is rich in legumins,
and the Colony, which is rich in fodders capable of existing in
conditions of extreme drought. He thinks the luscious emerald burseem
(Egyptian clover), grown in rotation with wheat, might stock the soil
with nitrogen and possibly destroy the rust in wheat which is
universally complained of. Indeed he declares that legumins might be
grown with cereals all over the Colony with great benefit to
agriculture. Lentils are a wholesome and sustaining fare, and beans form
the principal food of donkeys and poultry in Egypt. In India horses,
sheep, and cattle, Mr. Willcocks says, are fed on "gram," another
lentil; and the present writer can testify to more than that, for not
only do the horses fatten, but so also do the families of the native
"syces" employed to take care of them! This proves that gram, if
properly used, is as nourishing for the biped as for the quadruped
world. But the art of using the lentil is not generally known. The
lentil worked into a purée, and diluted and warmed with curry gravy,
makes one of the finest adjuncts to the breakfast-table imaginable.
Served hot in a sauce tureen it can be eaten with fish, hard-boiled
eggs, biscuits, or any other light food which may be at hand. This sauce
supplies the stamina and flavour of a meal.
To return. The Wynberg district is famed for its vineyards, which,
lately, have suffered through phylloxera. Much of the grape-juice is
converted into the brandy that works such havoc with the natives. Mr.
Willcocks proposes as an alternative the introduction of the resinous
firs common in Greece for the purpose of converting the grapes into the
light wines which are manufactured by the Greek farmers; but it is to be
feared that the native palate, tutored to the smack of more fiery fluid,
will not approve the delicate flavour of the resinato wines.
In regard to the Breede River Valley, expensive river and canal works
will be needed to properly irrigate the district, but these will repay
the expenditure. In the Touws River Valley, in years of ordinary winter
rain, good wheat crops can be grown on the alluvium of the river, which
crops might be made permanent by the construction of fifteen-feet high
weirs at suitable sites, and the leading off of small canals from the
up-stream sides.
In the karoo veldt, in the Prince Albert district, the light rainfall,
together with the violent slope of the country, renders numerous
irrigation schemes impossible. But the karoo bushes need and are worth
development, otherwise they will in time be exterminated. Our authority
gives in detail a scheme by which this development may be accomplished,
and declares that if the right method of preservation were adopted, it
would probably be possible to feed three sheep where one can be fed
to-day.
[Illustration: TEA FARM, SHOWING COOLIES PICKING
Reproduced by permission from the Natal Government Collection]
The Oudtshoorn district is the garden of the Cape Colony. It enjoys a
splendid climate and water-supply. The speciality of the Oudtshoorn
Valley is ostrich farming. The birds in thousands feed in the lucerne
fields on the banks of the Oliphants River. Crops of tobacco and
potatoes, orange groves, vineyards and orchards are everywhere to be
seen. There are still some 70,000 acres of land in the valley capable of
development by irrigation if water could be found for them--and here
many schemes are possible. "Unirrigated land in the valley, on which
there falls annually from seven to ten inches of rain, is worth scarcely
£1 an acre; while the same land, when irrigated, is worth from £30 to
£100 per acre." It is impossible here to describe the practical remedies
and improvement schemes suggested; the object of quotation is merely to
give on authority, a concise outline of the rich vista that has been
extended before us, and the perpetual prosperity that may be secured to
the South African Continent if the Government should consent to adopt
the measures suggested.
In the advanced farms stock are watered from tanks fed by subsoil water
raised by windmills. Wherever there are no permanent springs these
mills, Mr. Willcocks thinks, might be made compulsory. He says: "I have
seen stock drinking from shallow pools which contained mud rather than
water, and in which dead sheep were festering. It might be possible to
legislate that, if a reservoir is constructed, it must be fenced round
and protected from entry by stock. The reservoir dam should be pierced
by a pipe discharging into a trough, from which cattle should be given
to drink." This would protect the water from pollution and save the
cattle from contracting rinderpest and spreading it all over the
country.
The farms have a general area of some 12,000 acres each, with about
twelve acres of cultivated land per farm. This means about one acre of
arable land to a thousand acres of pastoral land. The cultivated area is
divided thus--one acre of fruit or vegetable garden to about eleven
acres under wheat, Indian corn, lucerne, and oat-hay. Here, the veldt
will carry one sheep--these are principally merinos--or a goat, to four
acres; or one ox to sixteen acres.[10]
North of Britstown the pan and vale formation begins, a formation
consisting of alternate ridges of rounded dolomite hills and flat
depressions which are either vales or pans. Vales have outlets for the
water which collects in them, pans usually have none. Some are natural
reservoirs of great capacity. The pans, when not brack, are the natural
reservoirs of the country. Mr. Willcocks has shown how both pans and
vales may be dealt with to the best advantage, and how the direct
storage of water and the indirect storage of it should be effected.
Still touring in the Cape Colony, he turned his attention to the Kat,
Kabossi, Keishma, Klipparts, and other streams near the sea, which have
a perennial discharge with a minimum of about 100 cubic feet per second,
yet which are scarcely utilised. On this subject he reported: "The value
of this water near the sea will never be appreciated till the idea is
abandoned that cereals are the only crops worth growing and that manures
are not necessary. The attempt to grow cereals year after year without
manure and without rotation of crops has made the wheat crops so liable
to rust that agriculture is discounted everywhere near the sea. Wherever
perennial water of any kind can be obtained in the important stock
districts of the Eastern Provinces, lucerne, at least, might be planted
to the utmost limits of the water."
[Illustration: PURE NEGRETTI MERINO RAM]
Locusts are ubiquitous; but these in the footganger stage might be
easily destroyed before they could develop into the pest they now are.
Mr. Willcocks thus describes a mode of dealing with them: "At the foot
of some low hills in the karoo bush I came across great numbers of the
footgangers. They were jet black, and were very easily distinguished.
Indeed it appeared as though some giant had just walked over the veldt
and sprinkled it with great splashes of jet-black ink. If I had been a
Kaffir, and had known that a reward would have been given for the
location of locusts in this stage, it would have been a simple matter to
have gone to the nearest magistrate and reported the appearance of the
footgangers. A few men, with washing soap and water and sprays could
have killed many millions in a few hours." He proposes that the States
should combine and annually devote £20,000 to the extermination of these
creatures before they take wing and become uncombatable. The idea is an
excellent one; but the method of carrying it into effect will need to be
"slim" in its strictures, otherwise the remedy, in homeopathic fashion,
may be productive of the disease! In India, for instance, where several
annas are offered for every deadly snake destroyed, these pests are
occasionally cherished and bred as a comfortable source of income. In
the Deccan, a few years since, a nest of these reptiles was discovered
near the writer's bungalow, and the farming process was explained by an
Anglo-Indian friend. Every dead snake being worth three or four annas,
it was to the interest of the enterprising native to rear as many as
possible, so that when hard up he could slay one of his "stock" and
receive the coveted reward!
The Aliwal North, Herschel, and New England districts lie between 4500
and 6000 feet above sea-level, and have a rainfall of some thirty inches
per annum. A good Indian corn crop may be counted on every year, and
wheat in five years out of six. Only a third of the cultivable area is
put under cultivation, though the grasses are good and one acre can
support a sheep. Agriculture is generally backward, rotations of crops
and manuring being unknown. Turnips and swedes for winter feeding of
stock have been raised with success.
BASUTOLAND
Basutoland has a better rainfall than any part of South Africa, except
Natal and the south-western corner of Cape Colony. The maximum fall per
annum, save in years of drought, may be put at thirty-five inches, the
minimum at twenty-eight. It is nearly always sufficient to allow of
wheat being sown between July and August, and reaped in December without
irrigation. About one-third of cultivated land is devoted to wheat, a
third to Indian corn, and a third to millets. These last are sown
between the middle of September and the middle of November, and are
reaped in April. No rotations of cereals with leguminous crops are
practised; no manure is used. Cultivation has been going on for thirty
years, and the soil is by no means as productive as it was originally.
According to the authority of Mr. Willcocks, if suitable manures were
employed and careful cultivation gone in for, this country with its
friable soil should be eminently suitable for all root crops, such as
potatoes, onions, and turnips, while beetroot would answer admirably in
the valley of the Caledon River up-stream to Ladybrand, and in the main
tributaries of the Caledon. The denudation of the country--owing to the
numerous ravines which cut it up--is serious, and, if allowed to
continue, it will mean incalculable loss. The scouring action of the
water is aggravated by the fact that the Basuto villages are built on
the tops of the hills. The steeps are constantly worn into tracks by the
women-carriers of water from the springs, and these tracks become during
the rain a series of rivulets which contribute further to the general
denudation. To save the land from the fate of Palestine, which, in
somewhat the same way, became denuded by hundreds of years of
cultivation and intense habitation, an ingenious arrangement for
planting willow and poplar cuttings in damp ravines, and wattles and
aloes in the dry ones, has been described by Mr. Willcocks--a remedy
which at the outset seems costly, but will finally become
self-supporting. The young trees will be pollarded and produce fuel,
which is badly needed in this at present extraordinarily treeless
region; and it is even possible that if the ravines were filled with
trees it might result in an increased rainfall during the critical
months of August, September, and October.
Nothing in the way of irrigation can here be done without reservoirs,
and these would pay nowhere but near the important centres. But more
important than irrigation, and much less costly, would be a better
system of cultivation, the introduction of leguminous crops and roots in
rotation with cereals. Experimental ventures by means of model farms
would soon prove what were the most suitable legumins and roots for the
country, and the best manures. Once initiated, the intelligent Basutos
would rapidly improve upon their limited experiences; but whether they
would acquire a taste for a diet of pulses, on the cultivation of which
the future development of the country depends, is another matter.
Patriotically, it seems reasonable to demand the education of the
appetite of a people in accordance with the output of their native land.
The young of a nation should be taught to acquire a taste for healthy
home-grown fare, and the women-folk should be instructed in the art of
manipulating it to the profit of the household. What is applicable in
Basutoland is applicable all over South Africa. The urban population
must assist agriculture or it cannot be made to pay. The produce of the
farms must find a market at its elbow, so to say; for there can be no
profits if enormous charges for rail have to be met and the farmers are
thrust into competition with the American and European markets.
[Illustration: A SUGAR-MILL IN NATAL (CENTRIFUGAL ROOM)
Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen]
"THE CONQUERED TERRITORY"
The south-eastern corner of the Orange River Colony, in the region of
Harrismith, Ficksburg, Ladybrand, and Wepener, is considered the best
suited for European settlers. Springs are numerous. Wheat and Indian
corn are the principal crops. The flour-mills on the Caledon can be
worked for nine months yearly, and the land on both sides of it is full
of promise to the agriculturist. Improvements in the form of weirs, &c.,
are suggested, by which one-fourth of the area would be insured in nine
years out of ten. "It would be possible to put some 50,000 acres under
lucerne; 12,000 acres, or, if necessary, the whole 24,000 acres under
beetroot, for which soil, climate, and seasons are most favourable."
Thus would be introduced an important sugar industry into the country.
In the north-eastern half of the Orange River Colony perennial
irrigation would ensure as good crops, but at a greater expenditure of
water. Here the value of perennially irrigated land to land depending on
rainfall may be taken as £1 to one shilling in this district, on the
high veldt of the Transvaal, and in the south-eastern corner of the
Orange River Colony. In the south-western half of the Orange River
Colony, it may be taken as £1 to sixpence; in the Eastern Karroo as £1
to threepence; and in the Western Karroo as £1 to a penny. In the
north-eastern half of the Orange River Colony the good veldt may be
taken as £1 per acre, and perennially irrigated land as £20 per
acre.[11]
After inquiry, observation, and comparison with other countries, Mr.
Willcocks' estimate of the price which could be paid for perennial
irrigation is as follows: In parts which lie below 1000 feet above
sea-level, situated in the arid or semi-arid region, a water-rent of £2
per annum could be easily paid anywhere near a railway. In semi-arid
regions, between 1000 and 2500 feet, a water-rent of £1, 10s. could be
paid. Over 2500 feet in height, £1 per acre per annum could be paid.
Near important centres the rent could be higher.
THE TRANSVAAL
The Transvaal, for agricultural purposes, may be divided into the
dolomite region,[12] the high, low, and bush veldt, and the
south-eastern tracts. The most important is the dolomite region, which,
roughly speaking, covers the country within lines joining Vereeniging,
Heidelberg, Bethel, Pretoria, Rustenburg, Zeerust, Lichtenburg,
Klerksdorp, and the Vaal River from Klerksdorp to Vereeniging--an area
of about 15,000 square miles. Johannesburg's rainfall--from twenty-eight
inches per annum in the east to twenty-two inches in the west--is the
best in the district. Though uncertain in September, October, and
November, in January, February, and March rain can always be counted on.
The country generally is capable of great agricultural development, an
area of some 350,000 acres being capable of perennial irrigation, in
addition to the areas irrigated by the existing springs. In addition to
the agricultural value of perennially irrigated land, there is the land
which without the aid of irrigation can be so cultivated as to give
excellent yields, for it is proved that well-manured and tilled crops
need only half the rainfall that ill-manured and untilled crops require.
[Illustration: ANGORA GOAT (YOUNG EWE)]
In the high veldt the rainfall, taken at twenty-one inches, occurs in
January, February, and March. The veldt grass will support one sheep per
acre. Mr. Willcocks thinks that in this region--it is enclosed by lines
drawn from Vereeniging to Heidelberg, Pretoria, Belfast, Amsterdam,
Vryheid, Volksrust, Standerton, and the line of the Vaal River--it would
be more profitable to thoroughly develop the unirrigated crops than to
go in for perennial irrigation. The higher the altitude in South Africa
the less the value of perennial water, except under special conditions.
Perennial irrigation should first be confined to centres such as
Middelburg, Standerton, and other towns which, with this aid, would give
handsome profits.
The annual trek from the high to the low veldt in winter might be
dispensed with if sufficient winter food crops were grown with the aid
of the rainfall, and the stock herded in winter in cattle and sheep
folds sheltered by groves of blue gum or pine trees. The practice of
trekking from high to low veldt in winter, is due to the fact that
winter frosts kill the grass in the high veldt, and the farmers, in
default of other food-stuffs for flocks, are forced to travel to the
regions where frost is unknown. Naturally, the trekking results in
10,000 acres of veldt having to do the work of 5000. To double the value
of their holdings in the high veldt, and save the trouble of the trek,
the farmers need only to plant a few belts of sheltering trees, and
cultivate roots and feeding stuff for flocks and herds.
The low veldt, being well supplied with water, could finally become a
possession of great value. The climate being unsuited to Europeans, the
place has remained undeveloped; but the land, if set apart, might be
made self-supporting, indeed a source of appreciable revenue to the
country, if British Indians and Kafirs were encouraged to produce rice,
tropical plants, &c., which would in no way compete with the temperate
and sub-tropical crops of the European farmers in the other regions.
"If," says Mr. Willcocks, "Indians and Kafirs were confined to the
tropical belts, and the Europeans to the temperate belts, we should not
see the absurd spectacle which we see to-day of the best parts of the
temperate zones being inhabited almost exclusively by Kafirs, while the
Europeans with great jealousy are keeping the Indians and Kafirs out of
the tropical belts."
No wholesale improvements in arid or semi-arid regions can be carried
forward without land and water taxes, for individuals that are exempt
might neglect to improve the land with impunity, and the State would be
powerless to interfere to prevent whole regions lying waste and barren.
There is said to be scarcely a part of South Africa where agriculturists
cannot afford to pay £1 per acre per annum for perennially irrigated
land, and the system of irrigation as put before the Government shows
that this uniform rate would enable extensive projects to be undertaken
everywhere with profit.
Land tax is another question to be considered. Land in Orange River
Colony may be considered as having a mean value of 15s. per acre. The
suggested tax is 6d. per acre per annum. The effect of such tax would be
to weed the country of useless landowners, and replace them by
industrious and progressive farming men. On a basis of 6d. per acre per
annum, the Orange River Colony could pay £300,000 per annum.
In the Transvaal the dolomite region, the high veldt, and the
south-eastern corner--taken as worth 10s. an acre, and taxed at 4d. per
acre--would bring in annually some £350,000. As in the Orange Colony,
irrigation works would add materially to the revenue. There would at
first be protests from all quarters, but eventually this systematic
taxation would prevent worthless landlords from accumulating property to
the detriment of progressive practical men.
In order to protect and improve the position of the farmers, Mr.
Willcocks recommends the formation of a Bureau of Agriculture after the
pattern of the Agricultural Bureau at Washington. Its representatives
collect information from far and near, and of every possible kind,
sending to headquarters all manner of agricultural produce. Experimental
farms are started in the various states, curious seeds are sown, and if
any variety proves adaptable to any particular region, the farmers are
promptly provided with seed corn, and thus assisted to keep at the head
of the world in agricultural production. Such a bureau in South Africa
would cause its agents to import legumins from Egypt, and labour-saving
machines from America, which last would halve the expenditure on
watercourses and earthwork of all classes.
Taken all round, South Africa with the addition of 3,000,000 acres of
perennially irrigated land (gained at an expenditure of £30,000,000, and
valued at £100,000,000), and also with 10,000,000 acres of land under
crops depending on rainfall (which might be valued at another
£100,000,000), would be a very different country from that which it is
to-day. In view of this immensely rich outlook, no South African
statesman should rest content with the transitory mineral wealth of the
moment, or the golden glories of a possible fifty years. Irrigation, and
irrigation alone, can secure permanent wealth to any part of the South
African continent, and the Government that refuses to recognise the
vital importance of a sufficiently comprehensive land and irrigation
scheme, and that hesitates while the land is ripe for regeneration--that
Government will deservedly go down to posterity as the Government of
lost opportunities.
[Illustration: PEELING BARK ON A WATTLE PLANTATION IN NATAL
After Photo by G. W. Wilson, Aberdeen.]
FOOTNOTES:
[10] Interesting details regarding the important industry of
wool-growing have been furnished by Mr. Allen Davison, Chief Inspector
of Sheep for the Cape Colony. See the following Chapter.
[11] The conditions of Vaal River irrigation differ entirely from those
on the Orange River; but irrigation could be provided at an expenditure
of about £10 per acre, and a water-rate of £1 per acre would pay all
expenses and five per cent. capital. To avoid trouble and ill-feeling,
it is suggested that the three colonies should settle their claims in
the respective rivers by the Cape Colony accepting the waters of the
Orange River as its property; while the Transvaal and the Orange River
Colony divided the Vaal between themselves.
[12] The dolomite region consists of the high plateaux on which the rain
falls, of the belt of dolomite in which the water is stored and out of
which the springs have their birth, and of the sandstone and
argillaceous rocks over which the water flows and where it is
principally utilised. Owing to displacement, the older rocks lie
highest, and the younger are less in altitude.
WOOL-GROWING
BY ALLEN G. DAVISON
_Chief Inspector of Sheep for the Cape Colony_
The Cape Colony, including the Transkeian Territories, may, from a
pastoral point of view, be divided into three parts: first, the grass
country of the east and south-east, 37,722 square miles in extent;
second, the mixed grass and karroo, in the north, centre, and
south-west, comprising an area of 57,617 square miles; and third, the
karroo proper, in the west and north-west, which includes 125,747 square
miles.
[Illustration: FLOCK OF FAT CROSS-BRED MERINO AND FAT-TAILED SHEEP
(The stone walls of the kraal are coped with cakes of "mist," or dried
sheep manure)]
Of these divisions the smallest in extent--the Grass Country--is the
most heavily stocked, some portions carrying as many as from four to
five hundred sheep to the square mile. Although the natural pasture may
not compare favourably with that of other stock-raising countries, it
possesses advantages which cannot be surpassed elsewhere in the Colony.
The flocks grazed in this locality are, generally speaking, superior in
breed, and the wool is light, clean, and well grown, commanding the
highest prices realised for Cape clips. Fencing has been systematically
and extensively carried out, and with but few exceptions, every farm is
enclosed, and subdivided into paddocks, at a cost of from £35 to £50 per
mile.
Along the coast, and for some miles inland, the grass grows rank and
sour, and is only eaten by stock when in the young and succulent stage.
Later in the season, when the pasture becomes dry and woody, it is quite
unfit for grazing purposes. In these parts merino sheep are rarely
found, the ravages of a disease named Heartwater having denuded the
farms of all small stock, with the exception of the common or Boer goat,
which thrives fairly well, and is kept in small flocks for milking and
slaughter.
The soil of the grass veldt being deficient in lime, the stock naturally
crave for salt, and in the northern districts farming cannot be carried
on successfully without a liberal supply being provided for large as
well as small stock. The grass country is, as a rule, better supplied
with water than any other part of the colony, the average annual
rainfall being over twenty-seven inches. There are also numerous streams
and springs which rarely fail even in the most severe droughts.
The mixed grass and karroo country of the central districts is
especially adapted for Angora goat-farming, though at the same time
merino sheep are kept in large numbers. The pasture consists mainly of
sweet grasses, interspersed with karroo bushes of various kinds, and
dwarf trees, among which may be mentioned the Spekboom (_Portulacaria
afra Jacq_), a fleshy, round-leaved, soft-wooded tree, which is a most
valuable food for sheep, cattle, goats, and even horses. The thornless
species of the prickly pear (_Opuntia Tuna_) is invaluable in seasons of
drought; and both the wild thorn and the mimosa tree furnish food of a
nourishing and sustaining nature. In the north and south-west, Angora
goats do not thrive so well, but in these localities merino sheep and
Boer goats are kept in large numbers.
Steek grass (_Aristida congesta R and S_) grows in many parts of the
mixed veldt, and is one of the greatest drawbacks to successful farming.
The seeds of this grass do not readily fall when ripe, and are thus
liable to be carried away by sheep and goats in their fleeces. Many
clips are seriously damaged by this seed, which mats the hair and wool
into hard solid masses, and often working through the fleece pierces the
skin, causing intense irritation, and in some cases even death.
The rainfall varies considerably. In the north and central districts the
annual average is a little over sixteen inches, while in the south-west
it is almost twenty-four inches. As a rule the former portion is but
poorly watered, the farmers depending to a large extent on springs and
the artificial storage of water.
The karroo is well adapted for Angoras, as well as goats of the common
type. More than one-half the number of the Cape sheep in the Colony is
found in this region, which, owing to its vast extent and low rainfall,
is better suited for animals of an active and hardy nature.
In the karroo the bushes are short and stunted, but they nevertheless
form most excellent grazing for small stock. When dry seasons set in,
the plants, although denuded of every green leaf, retain nourishment for
a remarkable period; and as long as water is procurable, stock maintain
their condition fairly well by feeding on the bark and dry twigs. The
most valuable bushes are: the Draaibosch (_Diplopappus filifolius_); the
Schaapbosch (_Penlzia virgata_); the Gannabosch (_Caroxylon silsola_);
and the Vygebosch (_Mesembrianthemum spinosum_). When rain falls, the
bushes shoot into leaf, and in the course of two or three weeks, what
appeared to be a barren and parched wilderness, is transformed into
beautiful and highly nutritious pasturage.
[Illustration: ANGORA GOATS (YOUNG RAMS)]
The karroo is badly watered, the farmers depending chiefly on springs,
wells, and dams for their supply. Underground water is found at various
depths, the average being about sixty feet. In but few cases, however,
does the supply rise to the surface, which necessitates the use of
windmills and pumps. The average annual rainfall is over ten inches,
though in some districts it does not exceed six inches. Given good
seasons, there is no part of the Colony which is healthier for small
stock than the karroo, and there is certainly no portion in which sheep
and goats multiply more rapidly. One severe drought, however, will often
sweep away the increase of several years, and leave the farmer on the
verge of ruin.
Throughout the Colony but few attempts are made to supply winter feeding
for stock, or to make adequate provision for times of drought. Of late
years the cultivation of lucerne has been on the increase, and in the
north and north-east, where the winters are long and severe, turnips are
grown, and these amply repay the farmers for the labour and expense
incurred.
The last reliable returns of the small stock in the Colony were taken in
the year 1898, since which date the disturbed state of the country has
prevented the collection of statistics of any value. At the close of
1898 there were: 10,565,844 woolled sheep; 1,560,439 Cape or fat-tailed
sheep; 3,039,482 Angora goats; and 2,312,052 common or Boer goats. These
figures, especially as regards sheep, will no doubt show a considerable
decrease when the next census is taken, for the demands of the military,
and the losses incidental to war, must to a certain extent have caused a
marked reduction.
Merino sheep from the Royal flock of George III. were first introduced
at the Cape about the year 1793, but it was not until 1838 that any real
progress in breeding was made.
[Illustration: FAT-TAILED HAIRY AFRICANDER SHEEP (RAMS)]
Of late years Australian merinos, Tasmanian and Vermont sheep have been
largely imported; and there are many flocks in the Colony which have
been bred up to a very high standard. The Vermont sheep, which are
close, heavily-woolled animals, possess many advantages, which, by
judicious crossing, are well suited to counteract some of the defects
noticeable in the flocks of this country. At the present time a very
large proportion of the woolled sheep are inferior in quality, and far
below the standard of excellence which every breeder of stock should
strive to attain to.
The Cape or fat-tailed sheep is a leggy, active animal, with a hairy
skin, bred solely for the butcher. These sheep are noted for their
enormous tails, which weigh from ten to fifteen pounds, although in some
cases this last weight has been considerably exceeded. Being active and
free from wool, the animal is peculiarly adapted for the karroo, where
long distances have generally to be traversed in the search for pasture
and water. The skin of the fat-tailed sheep possesses a special value
for glove-making, and good, sound skins readily fetch fifty shillings
per dozen, and as much as seventy shillings when the quality can be
guaranteed.
The Angora goat was first introduced into the Colony from Asia Minor in
1838, and crossed with the common or Boer goat, the progeny of which
formed the nucleus of the Angora industry of the present day. From time
to time fresh importations have taken place, the last consignment
arriving in 1895-96. These goats, however, proved disappointing, and
although they realised high prices, were distinctly inferior to the best
goats bred in the Colony.
The Angora is a delicate animal, and as the shearing season usually
commences in the winter months, success in farming depends in a great
measure on the provision of suitable shelter, as a protection against
cold and wet weather.
The common or Boer goat is a large, well-made, active, and hardy animal,
which thrives in every part of the country; especially in the dry and
barren north-western districts. Large numbers of these goats are sold to
the butchers, the carcasses averaging from sixty to sixty-five pounds in
weight.
In many localities they are kept for their milking properties, on which
account they are extremely valuable, since they often supply milk for
household purposes when it would be impossible for horned cattle to
exist. Goat-skins are largely used for tanning, and supply the farmer
and his family with materials for their boots and veld schoens.
Cape wool, as a rule, takes the lowest place on the principal markets,
and is the first to be effected by any downward tendency in prices.
There are several reasons for this unsatisfactory state of affairs.
These reasons have been brought prominently to the notice of the
colonial farmer, but, in spite of their importance and interest, they
have not as yet received the attention they deserve. Scab, the greatest
enemy that stock farmers have to contend with, is prevalent in nearly
every part of the country, and has proved so destructive to the flocks
and clips generally that the annual loss to the country has been
estimated at from five hundred thousand to one million pounds sterling.
That this disease was a source of great trouble in the early days at the
Cape is very evident, for placcaats or edicts were framed, as far back
as 1693 and 1740, dealing most stringently with any man who neglected
the cleansing of his flocks. These placcaats, however, in the course of
time fell into desuetude, and it was not until 1886 that any serious
attempt was made to cope with the disease. The law passed at this time
was only enforced in a small portion of the Colony, but it proved of
such service, that in 1894 another Act was framed, which was proclaimed
over the whole country. Owing to certain defects in this legislation,
the good results which were anticipated have not been effected; but,
nevertheless, some advance has been made, as evidenced in the improved
quality of the wool and skins which leave these shores. Until more
stringent measures for the eradication of scab are introduced, the
stigma attached to the wool products of the Colony will not be removed.
[Illustration: ANGORA GOAT (RAM)]
In 1838 the quantity of wool exported was 490,754 lbs., valued at
£26,627. In 1891 the highest figures were reached, the record being
75,520,701 lbs., of the value of £2,264,498: this in 1901 had fallen to
65,209,699 lbs., valued at £1,489,246.
Mohair, the name given to the fleece of the Angora goat, is peculiarly
liable to variations in price, according to the fashions which may be in
vogue. On a well-bred animal the fleece should hang in long wavy locks
or ringlets of white, silky, lustrous hair; and when full grown, should
touch the ground. The fleeces vary in weight according to the breed of
the animal, and to the class to which it belongs--oily or non-oily. From
a well-bred flock of Angora ewes the mohair should average about four
pounds weight per animal. In the case of rams and kapaters, or wethers,
there is a considerable increase, as much as from eight to fourteen
pounds being sometimes clipped. A dry climate is essential to the growth
of good mohair, and therefore the karroo and mixed grass and karroo
country are admirably adapted for its production. Almost all the Angoras
in the Colony are the progeny of rams imported from Asia Minor, crossed
with the white Boer goat; and it is probably owing to this fact that in
many flocks a considerable amount of kemp, or coarse white hair, is
still to be found. Even in the most favourable circumstances Cape mohair
realises less than the Turkish produce by from twopence to threepence
per pound; this probably being on account of the lack of brightness and
spinning properties possessed by the former article.
At the present time the Cape produces about one-half of the world's
supply of mohair. In 1857 the quantity exported was 870 lbs., which
realised £10. These figures in 1897 had increased to 12,583,601 lbs.,
valued at £676,644; and in 1901 had fallen to 10,813,239 lbs., of the
value of £502,605. The decrease in the exports of wool and mohair for
the year 1901 is no doubt due to the effects of the war and the
disturbed state of the country.
At present, however, the outlook is more hopeful, and there is no doubt
whatever that for the progressive and enterprising farmer the future is
one of great possibilities.
SOUTH AFRICAN RAILWAYS
BY W. BLELOCH
_Author of "The New South Africa"_
South Africa is a country of magnificent distances, with the centres of
industry situated at points far apart in the wide interior; the country
villages are dotted about with thirty to fifty miles of brown karroo or
verdant veldt in between; even the homesteads of the Boers are planted
at respectful distances from each other. In such a country a
comprehensive, efficient, and cheap railway system is absolutely
necessary; without railways the development of trade and industry could
not be pushed forward on any large scale. The great staple products of
the Cape--wool, skins, and hides--could not compete with the like
products of Australia and the Argentine. The diamond mines of Kimberley,
which support an industrial population of about 50,000, and the great
gold mines of the Rand, which at the present stage of development supply
the wherewithal to live to 200,000 people, white and black, would be
able to work only on a restricted basis; the greater number of the Rand
mines would have to shut down, and without railways it may be said that
the stimulating production of wealth in the nearly indestructible form
of gold and diamonds would practically cease.
To meet the requirements which the circumstances demand, a
far-stretching network of railways--with wide meshes it is true--is
growing over the country. Instead of the old system of ox transport and
coaches drawn by mules, which ten years ago were the only means of
approach to the Transvaal and Rhodesia, there are now modern freight
trains, drawn by heavy-type locomotives, hauling up the vast import
traffic to the Rand, and running down return loads of wool and hides
from the grassy uplands of the Orange River Colony, and the
barren-looking, but wide and productive, karroo plains of the Cape.
There are _trains de luxe_ with corridors and platforms to enable the
passenger to stretch his limbs _en route_, or sit in comfort and view
the scenery as the train plods on its twenty-five or thirty miles an
hour.
Twelve years ago Bulawayo was the head kraal of a bloodthirsty savage,
and was approached only by a few adventurous spirits who recked little
of danger and less of time. The journey from the coast to the inland
centre took at least three months, and now it can be visited with
comfort and despatch. Without alighting from the train the traveller can
enjoy his morning bath; he can breakfast, lunch, and dine; he can press
a button and call for cool, liquid refreshments at any hour of the day;
and he can complete his journey of 1360 miles from Cape Town to the
Rhodesian industrial capital in 3-1/2 days. The Cape Town-Johannesburg
journey of 1000 miles is done just within 44 hours. These results may
not be considered of much account by the English or American traveller
accustomed to a speed of 50 miles an hour for long distances, but South
African railways have been built to suit the special necessities of the
country. The gauge is only 3 feet 6 inches, and on all the lines heavy
gradients have to be negotiated.
The interior of South Africa is a great plateau elevated from 4000 to
6000 feet above sea-level. The edge of the plateau runs round the
sub-continent at no great distance from the sea, its bold escarpments
looking over the 50 to 100 miles of broken, low-lying coast lands which
skirt the continent. In consequence, all the railways to the interior,
within the first 100 miles from the coast, begin climbing up steep
inclines cut along the sides of one or other of the few passes which
admit of ascent by railway trains. Whether the journey is made from Cape
Town, Port Elizabeth, East London, Durban, or Delagoa Bay, the ascent
has to be negotiated. The tedium of the uphill journey is compensated to
some extent by the grandeur of the scenery in these initial stages of
the routes to the interior. On the Cape line there is the magnificent
view of the Hex River which, like Fair Melrose, can best be seen in pale
moonlight as towards morning the night train from Cape Town winds along,
gradually climbing up and up above the valley lying 1000 feet below. On
either side grand brown mountains rise like sentinels to guard the pass.
It has often been conjectured what would have been the upshot if the
Boers had marched right south and seized this pass at the beginning of
the war. It would have been Colenso over again, only worse. On the Port
Elizabeth line, from Coerney to Cradock, the line passes up through
rugged valleys in places bright with the sub-tropical evergreen bush of
South Africa, and hemmed in with massive mountains forming the broken
edges of the continent. The line through Graaf Reinet negotiates similar
country, as does also the line from East London through King William's
Town. The ascent from Durban is the most difficult of all. Natal is
formed almost wholly of great fragments of the South African plateau
which seem to have broken off, and now lie in long lines of broken
mountain chains running north and south. These mountain ranges lie
transverse to the route of the railway, so that ascents and descents
have to be made time and again before the Transvaal high veldt is
gained. From Durban to Charlestown the aggregate ascent is 12,600 feet.
Altitudes of two, three, four, and five thousand feet are gained _en
route_ and then partially lost again. Some of the scenery on this line
is of surpassing interest and beauty. Near the coast there are fruit
gardens, pine and banana plantations, and orange groves, with here and
there fields of pasture fenced in. Farther up, mealie fields spread
along the slopes of the hills and down the valleys. Then there follow
stretches of open grass country alternating with bush. Herds of cattle,
fat and sleek, graze on the rich grass lands. Above Pietermaritzburg the
line ascends for three thousand feet to highlands to descend again two
thousand to Colenso.
[Illustration: BRIDGE OVER THE TUGELA, ZULULAND EXTENSION (1330 FEET
LONG) CONNECTING NATAL AND ZULULAND]
The next stretch of fifty miles has become one of the historic districts
of the empire. In a winding of the Tugela lies Colenso. Then Pieters
Hill is climbed, and the traveller can realise the desperate nature of
the task set to General Buller's army. Then come Wagon Hill and Cæsar's
Camp, with Bulwan on the right and Ladysmith lying in a hollow in the
centre. Beyond Ladysmith the train climbs again to Elandslaagte, and
begins in a succession of gradual ascents to climb to the crest of the
Drakensberg, the final climb being made under the shadow of Majuba, and
through the tunnel of Laing's Nek. Once at Charlestown the high veldt is
gained for good. The ascent from Delagoa Bay is easier, in that there is
not the same repetition of ups and downs as on the Natal railway. The
line runs through the Komati Poort, and then up the Elands River Valley,
a beautiful valley indeed, but a veritable valley of death to the
builders of the railway. At Waterval Onder the final steep ascent is
begun, part of the way being so steep that the cog-wheel system is
required. At Waterval Boven the high veldt is gained, and the main
difficulties left behind.
The Beira railway to Salisbury has a similar ascent to make. Having
described the approaches, some idea may now be given of the railway
routes on the interior plateau itself. The Cape Town line to De Aar and
Kimberley after gaining the plateau traverses the Great Karroo, a
monotonous stretch of several hundred miles of parched brown,
barren-looking plain with isolated, flat-topped mountains, and ranges
which serve to give variety, and make a scene of widespread solitude,
having a melancholy charm wholly its own. This barren-looking veldt,
with its sparse vegetation of stunted shrubs, supports millions of sheep
and goats, and however unpromising its aspect, it plays an important
part in the railway and general economy of the country. The Midlands
railway from Port Elizabeth to De Aar and Norval's Pont traverses
similar country, but not so arid. The Eastern railway, from East London
through King William's Town and Queenstown to Bethulie, traverses more
undulating country covered with grass intermixed with karroo shrub. In
some districts, notably round King William's Town and Queenstown,
agriculture has made considerable headway. The western line continues
from Kimberley through Vryburg (British Bechuanaland) to Mafeking, and
on to Bulawayo through grass-covered country, with clumps of Kameeldoorn
trees, presenting in many places the appearance of an English park. This
is a great cattle country, and provides considerable traffic for the
railway over and above the mining traffic of Kimberley and Rhodesia. All
the Cape lines connect with one another with two necks which converge at
Springfontein for the Orange River Colony and Transvaal traffic. From
the Orange River northwards the railways are known as the Central South
African Railways. The line through the Orange River Colony runs through
flat grassy plains for a distance of 300 miles: plains which, after a
devastating war, still hold over a million sheep and 160,000 head of
cattle. In time of peace the whole country is one monotonous scene of
pastoral prosperity. On entering the Transvaal at Vereeniging--the place
of the declaration of peace--the railway enters at once into the rich
gold-bearing region of the Transvaal. There is a gradual rise over open
country to the Rand. On every side there is evidence of great industrial
activity, and at many places along the line beginnings may be seen of
Transvaal agriculture, beginnings which promise a great future.
The south-eastern branch of the Central South African Railways connects
with the Natal line at Volksrust, and proceeds along the high veldt viâ
Standerton and Heidelberg to the Rand. The high veldt of the Transvaal
has an average height of 5000 feet above sea-level. It is a vast open
grass country with rocky ridges rising a few hundred feet above the
ordinary level. A magnificent stock country, and rich in coal, iron, and
gold. On the eastern line, the Central South African line connects with
the Portuguese line at Komati Poort, and passes up the Elands River
Valley already described. From Waterval Boven the railway continues to
ascend to the summit of the high veldt at Bergendal, near Belfast. It
was here where the last big pitched battle was fought before the
break-up of the Boer army into guerilla forces. The line passes along
the northern limits of the high veldt _viâ_ Middelburg to Pretoria. The
country it passes through is equal in stock-raising capabilities and
mineral riches to the south-eastern line. There are enormous areas of
coal of good quality and abundance of iron ore, and limestone sufficient
for the establishment of a great industry which itself will doubtless
bring about and maintain great railway expansion in the future.
From Pretoria, the Pretoria-Pietersburg line, formerly a private
company, now taken over by the Central South African Railways, strikes
north to Pietersburg into the heart of the tropical part of the
Transvaal. The country it traverses is partly flat and partly hilly, at
some places thick bush and at others wide grassy plains. In the northern
district there is a large population of Kaffirs who cultivate the
extremely fertile soil, and produce great quantities of mealies (maize)
and Kaffir corn, which products, together with timber for the mines,
form the principal items of traffic carried by the railway. The Beira
railway to Salisbury, originally a narrow gauge, has now been widened to
the standard 3 feet 6 inches gauge of South Africa, and carries all the
traffic for the Mashonaland mines.
[Illustration: JOHANNESBURG MAIL TRAIN AT THE FOOT OF MAJUBA]
In all, South Africa possesses approximately 5000 miles of railway,
having a capitalised value, including rolling stock, of about
£50,000,000, or £10,000 per mile. The three important systems are the
Cape Government Railways, the Natal Government Railways, and the Central
South African Railways (Transvaal and Orange River Colony). The Cape
system has a mileage of 2135 miles, and in addition it works 587 miles
of the Rhodesian Railways, or a total of 2722 miles. The Natal system
covers 612-1/2 miles, and the Central South African system 1312 miles.
In addition to these there is the Beira Railway, already briefly
described, and there are also several small privately-owned railways.
The three chief systems own altogether 1239 engines and 27,806 waggons,
and a large but still insufficient equipment of coaches for passenger
traffic. Great attention has been given and much money expended in the
past two years in bringing the rolling stock up to a state of efficiency
for dealing with the greatly-increased traffic anticipated on the
establishment of peace in South Africa. The Central South African
Railways--the State Railways now owning and working the old Free State
and Netherlands systems--have almost doubled the carrying capacity of
these railways. Natal had 129 engines before the war; she has now 209.
She had 3101 waggons before the war; she has now 6154. The Cape railways
have also largely increased their stock. The enormous traffic now being
handled, more or less successfully, will justify this provident policy.
All these systems make large annual profits. In its best year, 1896, the
Cape Government system showed--
Total Earnings. Total Expenses. Profits.
£4,078,561. £9,921,809. £2,156,752.
Or £10, 7s. 6d. per cent. on the then capital of £20,799,288. This
included the Free State share of profit under the then working
arrangement. Deducting the Free State share, the profit was at the rate
of £8, 19s. 7d. per cent. In the same year the Natal Railway showed--
Total Earnings. Total Expenses. Profits.
£1,136,213, 16s. 1d. £421,989, 14s. 2d. £706,224, 1s. 11d.
Or £11, 9s. 0-1/2d. per cent. on the then capital of £6,236,555.
In the same profitable year the Netherlands Railway returns showed--
Total Expenses,
Total Earnings. Plus Interest on Capital. Total Nett Profits.
£2,903,516, 0s. 5d. £1,197,841, 18s. 8d. £1,705,674, 1s. 9d.
The profits of this railway in this year equalled 59 per cent. of the
total earnings.
In 1901, notwithstanding the state of war, the Cape Government Railways
showed--
Total Earnings. Total Expenses. Profits.
£3,852,871. £2,875,571. £977,300.
Equal to £4, 8s. 4d. per cent. on the then capital of £22,125,085.
In the same year the Natal Railways showed--
Earnings. Total Expenses. Profits.
£1,650,355, 5s. 4d. £1,159,026, 7s. 9d. £491,328, 17s. 7d.
Equal to £5, 15s. 2-1/2d. per cent. on the capital of £8,528,989.
Included in the Natal Railway expenses is the sum of £159,328 expended
on permanent work that should have been charged to capital, which, if
added to the profits as it should be, would make an actual profit for
the year of £650,656, 17s. 7d. There are no returns available to show
the result of working the Central South African Railways, formerly the
Imperial Military Railways, during the period of the war. Nor are there
any available now, but considering the past results and the great volume
of present traffic, and the maintenance of the old high rates for
freight and passenger fares, it may be estimated that the earnings of
the Central South African Railways in the Transvaal and the Orange River
Colony will probably be between £5,500,000 and £6,000,000, and the
profits between £2,500,000 and £3,000,000, a very important item in the
revenues of the two new colonies.
[Illustration: STATION YARD, DURBAN
(The Tower of the Town Hall is seen in the background)]
In comparison with other railways in the British Empire the South
African railways hold an important position as regards mileage, and the
average earnings per mile are more than double the average earnings of
several important colonial and Indian railways. The combined earnings of
all South African railways working 5000 miles may be taken at
£11,000,000 for the year. The Canadian Pacific Railway, working 7000
miles, earned £6,002,061. The Grand Trunk of Canada, working 4179 miles,
earned £4,407,016. The Victorian Railways, Victoria, Australia, working
3238 miles, earned £3,337,797. The Queensland Railway, working 2801
miles, earned £1,316,936. The Bombay, Baroda, and Central Indian
Railways, with 2764 miles, earned £3,253,866. The Great Indian
Peninsular and Indian Midland Railways, with 2800 miles, earned
£3,063,066. Comparing with important home railways:--
+---------------------------------+------------+------+-------------+
| | Capital. |Miles.| Earnings. |
+---------------------------------+------------+------+-------------+
|London and North-Western Railways|£118,126,653| 1941 |£13,812,000 |
|Great Western Railway | 84,424,177| 2645 | 11,181,471 |
|Midland Railway | 170,550,931| 2019 | 11,153,792 |
|All South African Railways | 50,000,000| 5000 | 11,000,000 |
| | | |(approximate)|
+---------------------------------+------------+------+-------------+
These figures show that South African railways make high earnings as
compared even with a great railway like the Canadian Pacific, a railway
serving one of the most important trade routes in the world, and
traversing a rich agricultural country, with a population of 5,000,000,
as compared with South Africa's 700,000 whites and 2,000,000 blacks. The
Queensland railways, with more than half the mileage, earn less than
one-eighth the total earned by South African railways, while the
enormous traffic of the famous London North-Western, with its large
capitalised value, only brings in a matter of £3,000,000 a year more
than the railways of South Africa, with their moderate capitalisation of
£50,000,000.
This comparison should bring home to investors the excellent opening
which South Africa affords for safe and profitable participation in the
reasonable railway expansion the country still requires, especially is
this the case with the two new colonies. Another fifteen hundred miles
could well be added. These new railways would have earning capacity
little inferior to the existing lines, and the present margin of profits
is so wide that a substantial reduction in rates would not materially
affect the prospects, because such a reduction would inevitably result
in a great increase in the volume of traffic.
The comparison also leads to the conclusion that the present rates are
excessive. They have been maintained at their high level through the
system of the Colonial Governments looking to the railways for a large
proportion of the revenue. The great pivot of South African industry is
the Rand, with its goldfields, and both Natal and Cape Colony have for
years past taken toll on the Rand traffic, and thereby swelled their own
revenues.
The old Free State and Transvaal Governments in a like manner determined
to fleece the industrial workers, and so save their own burghers from
bearing their due share of the cost of Government. While they were the
greatest sinners themselves, they could not with reason ask the southern
Governments to take the first step towards moderation. As a consequence,
the Rand, dependent for the most part of its food and for the whole of
its industrial equipment on over-sea supplies, became one of the most
expensive places to live and work in that the wide world knows. Under
the new _regime_ there is as yet no improvement; the Imperial Government
is looking for revenue. To the despair of British loyalists the old high
rates are maintained, with the effect of delaying and perhaps
prohibiting the enormous industrial progress which the wealth of the
country would under other conditions make possible. All classes feel the
burden, and at the forthcoming Congress of the Associated Chamber of
Commerce, which will meet at Kimberley, resolutions bearing on the
question are to be submitted. The first affirms: "That the railways,
being the highways of the country, should be worked solely with a view
to furnishing the transit and traffic requirements of the country, and
entirely dissociated from the revenual, political, or protective
considerations;" and "That the policy of raising revenue through
excessive railway rates is an objectionable method of taxation. It is
unfair in its incidence, and bears with especial hardship on the inland
wage-earner."
These resolutions reflect the feelings of the whole inland community of
South Africa.
[Illustration: COMMISSIONER STREET, JOHANNESBURG
Photo by Barnett & Co., Johannesburg]
The Canadian Pacific Railway, with 7588 miles open, makes a net profit
of £2,620,000 on a capital of £53,000,000 as against South Africa, with
5000 miles open, and net profits of over £5,000,000 on a similar
capital. The Canadian Pacific Railway makes a net profit of £371 per
mile against a net profit of Natal railways of £803 per mile, and an
approximate net profit of £1800 per mile of the Central South African
railways (Transvaal and Orange River Colony railways). New Zealand
railway returns for 1902 show net earning of £280 per mile. The through
rate for ordinary goods from Durban to Johannesburg is just over 3-3/4d.
per ton per mile. The rate for ordinary goods on the Central South
African railways (Transvaal railways) for fifteen miles is 9d. per ton
per mile; for fifty miles, 6-2/3d. per ton per mile; for longer
distances, approximately 6d. per ton per mile. The average rate for
goods on the Canadian Pacific Railway is only one-third of a penny
per ton per mile. Were this rate charged on a ton of goods brought from
Durban--the nearest colonial port--to Johannesburg, the cost would be
only 13s. 6d. as against £7, 13s. 4d., the present cost; that is, the
South African through rate is ten times as much as the average rate in
Canada; and the Transvaal rate for ordinary local traffic of 6d. to 9d.
per ton per mile is twenty times higher than the average Canadian rate.
The Canadian Pacific Railway is selected for comparison, because it is a
railway built to develop new and sparsely-populated territory, its
special work being essentially the same as that required of the railways
of South Africa. The Canadian Pacific Railway has doubled its earnings
since 1895. If its policy were copied in South Africa, where the whole
industrial life of the country depends on railways, enormous
developments could be looked for. In South Africa it is fully realised
that, until the burden of excessive railway rates is got rid of, the
costs of living must prohibit any great growth of population, and
without growth of population the development of the natural resources of
the country can only make the slowest of progress. The people are quite
willing to provide the Government with revenue, but they wish to provide
it by different methods than those which obtained in the past.
Owing to exorbitant fares the people of Johannesburg are practically
confined within the limits of the town and its immediate suburbs. They
are compelled to pay high rents. £250 to £300 a year represents the
present rent for an ordinary cottage. The passenger fares on the London
and North-Western are from a 1-1/2d. to 1-3/4d. per mile first, 1-1/4d.
second, and fractionally under a 1d. third. A great reduction is made on
season tickets. Transvaal railway fares average 3d. per mile first,
2-1/2d. second, and 1-1/2d. third, and only a small reduction is made
for season tickets. With high rents and high prices for food, rendered
dear by cost of carriage, the workers, in order to live, must obtain
high wages. High wages mean high-working costs for all industrial
enterprises. Consequently only a few industries, and only the richer
mines, can be worked at a profit. Ordinary industries which can carry
only moderate working costs cannot be undertaken.
Judging from the results of the past six years sweeping reductions are
quite possible while still allowing for a paying railway revenue. Mr.
Cooper-Key has shown, that the excess profits made by the Transvaal
railways alone, after providing for reasonable interest on capital at
the rate of 4-3/4 per cent., were:--
For 1896 £1,162,925.
" 1897 1,111,964.
" 1898 928,623.
For the present year the excess profits on Transvaal railways, over a 4
per cent. interest on capital, will probably amount to not far short of
£1,500,000.
As might be expected after a consideration of the profits and earning
capacity of South African railways, important extensions of the previous
system are projected and in progress.
In the Cape Colony there is a project to connect Saldanha Bay, the
proposed new port, with the main line _viâ_ Hopefield. A southern line
_viâ_ Oudtshoorn and Willowmore will bring Cape Town in closer contact
with Mossel Bay and Port Elizabeth, and open up the southern districts
of Cape Colony. Another line will join the Port Elizabeth midland line
with the eastern system at King Williamstown.
In the Orange River Colony the projected lines are from Springfontein to
Koffyfontein; from Bloemfontein to Ladybrand and Ficksburg; from
Harrismith to Heilbron or Vereeniging. The line from Bloemfontein to
Ladybrand is already partly built. It will open up the wheat-growing
section of the Orange River Colony.
In the Transvaal the most important projected lines are: A line from
Fourteen Streams to Klerksdorp, providing an alternative route from the
Cape Ports to the Rand. A line from Krugersdorp to Rustenburg and thence
probably to Zeerust and Mafeking, opening up a valuable agricultural
country. A line from Springs to Machadodorp or Ermelo, through the best
coal and iron districts of the Transvaal, and providing an alternative
route from Delagoa Bay to the Rand. This line would greatly relieve the
congestion which exists after the high veldt is gained on the present
eastern line, owing to the coal traffic and the over-sea imports having
to be carried over a single line of railway. A line from Pietersburg to
Leydsdorp and thence probably connecting with the Selati railway at its
present terminus. There is a private company formed to build a line from
Machadodorp to Ermelo, and the Government is constructing a coal line
for the mines along the south of the Rand, and another alternative line
from Johannesburg to Vereeniging.
In Natal it is a question of doubling the present main line or of
constructing another single line of railway from Greytown to the
Transvaal. The first plan would be cheaper, and would give more
immediate help to Natal in the competition for Transvaal traffic, while
the alternative Greytown route would open up new country to railway
influence, and materially add to the prosperity of the agricultural
population of that section of the colony. Natal is also about to
construct a line from Maritzburg to Riverside on the Cape-Natal
frontier. The Cape being under promise to connect this point with their
eastern system, and thus provide direct railway communication with
Durban and Cape Town.
In Rhodesia the line connecting Bulawayo and Salisbury is approaching
completion.[13] It is possible that Gwelo, a town on the railway, will
be the junction or next starting-point of the "Cape to Cairo" railway,
or it may be that the route by another new line from Bulawayo to the
Wankie coalfields near the Zambesi may be chosen instead. A line is in
course of construction from Bulawayo to the Gwanda goldfields, and a
line is proposed from Salisbury north to Lo Maghonda. Altogether over
2000 miles of new railway are projected in South Africa. In the
Transvaal the new lines proposed will have a length of over 800 miles,
and at least 500 miles may be considered as lines whose construction is
a matter of urgent necessity.
This forecast of railway development in the immediate future in South
Africa means the raising and spending of another £16,000,000, £8000 per
mile being about the lowest figure that can be reckoned on to build the
lines and provide rolling stock. Transvaal expenditure for new railways
may be estimated for the period of the next three years at not less than
£6,000,000. When built, however, these railways will be sound
properties, thoroughly sure as to their dividend or interest-earning
capacity. Lord Milner referred in a recent speech to what he called the
governmental plant which he said was required before private enterprise
could get to work on making the country productive. Chief among the
governmental plant so referred to are railways, but alongside of the
recognition of the necessity of railways it is to be hoped that
governmental recognition will also be given to the fact that to be of
real use the railways must be run at cheap rates, otherwise the
looked-for benefit will never come.
As regards over-sea traffic, it is hoped that rates may be brought down
by encouraging competition between the various railways from the coast,
and the Transvaal Government has a powerful lever in its eastern line.
The distance from Delagoa Bay to the Rand is only 395 miles, of which
only 56 belong to the Portuguese.[14] From Durban the distance is 483
miles; from Port Elizabeth, 785 miles, and from Cape Town, 1000 miles.
The Transvaal Government has the whip in hand, and it is hoped that it
will use it so that all South Africa will be brought into line on the
question of moderate freight and passenger rates. At present goods are
pouring into the Transvaal at the rate of 21,000 tons per week, and in
addition there are 8000 tons being brought up weekly for the military,
but if rates are not lowered, this great railway activity will prove
only transient, because it is certain that at present the internal
industries are making no progress, and consequently trade must fall off.
[Illustration: MAP OF THE CAPE GOVERNMENT RAILWAYS, BASED ON THE MAP
ACCOMPANYING THE GENERAL MANAGER'S REPORT
(_Scale = 120 English miles to an inch_)]
In conclusion, a word may be said of the important part played by South
African railways in the late war. A German strategist predicted that
with the existing railway systems of South Africa it would be impossible
to feed an army of 250,000 men in the interior of the country. Yet it
was actually done, and not for a brief period only, but for nearly three
years. Besides bringing the food-stuff for this host, and for the civil
population besides, the railways transported guns, ammunition, horses
and men up and down, back and forward as the commander-in-chief
required. The magnitude of this work can be imagined when it is stated
that no less than 126 trains were required for the final concentration
against Delarey at Klerksdorp. The working of the railways during the
war reflects the greatest credit on the managers and employées of all
South African railways. It was impossible to tell when a train would run
through a band of snipers, one or more of its occupants paying the
penalty of death, or when the engine might be hoisted by a hidden charge
of dynamite, and the machine and its drivers turned to wreckage. During
the war the railway service required qualities of endurance and courage
equal to those possessed by the bravest soldier in the field.
[Illustration: MORNING MARKET AT JOHANNESBURG
Photo by Barnett & Co., Johannesburg]
SOUTH AFRICAN INDUSTRIES
At present South African industries (outside of agriculture and pastoral
pursuits) may be said to consist of mining and railways. The railways,
in spite of heavy rates, have made a great mining industry possible.
What could they do in respect of other and ordinary industries? It is a
question of rates. Given recognition of the principle that railways
should be the most essential part of the governmental plant spoken of by
Lord Milner--plainly to be used for developing the country, and not for
the use of extracting revenue to which it is at present put, not
gold-mining alone, but a hundred industries would presently flourish. On
the Rand there are already great engineering works contending against
many difficulties, and especially the cost of labour. These works
execute repairs for the mines, make castings, and even manufacture new
machinery. A great future industry, which for the present is impossible
on account of want of railway facilities, is the exploitation of the
rich iron ores of the Transvaal. It is stated that a syndicate with
large capital has been formed to undertake this work on a large scale
when the conditions are favourable, and within the next few years it is
probable that the Middelburg district will have smelting furnaces,
foundries, rolling mills, and all the varied works of a young iron and
steel industry which may eventually take a leading place in the world.
Mr. Carnegie recently stated that the iron ores of Britain will be
exhausted in twenty-five years, and those of the United States in sixty
years. The extensive deposits of the Transvaal should last for
centuries.
Another possible future industry is the distillation of oil from the
shales of the Eastern Transvaal and the Orange River Colony. These
deposits are at present being tested, and give promise of payability.
Throughout South Africa there are many flour mills. The chief works
being at Port Elizabeth and Cape Town and in the wheat district of the
Orange River Colony. Other industries which have found a footing, and
are now making steady progress, are leather-making, boot and harness
making, wool-washing, jam-making, candle-making, waggon and cart
building from colonial woods. All these industries are carried on
chiefly in the Cape Colony and Natal. In the Transvaal there are pottery
works, a cement factory, many breweries, and one distillery. In the Cape
and Natal there are also several large breweries. One great industry
which has arisen, owing to the mining wealth of the country, is the
manufacture of explosives. There is a large dynamite factory at Cape
Town owned by the De Beers Company, and another--the largest explosive
factory in the world--at Modderfontein near Johannesburg. The
Modderfontein factory cost upwards of three-quarters of a million to
build. The works are spread over a large area, the property comprising
5280 acres. This factory was owned by a company with German, English,
and French interests, formed to work the dynamite monopoly for the
Transvaal Government. The high prices it charged, and the huge profits
it made, being additional direct burdens on the already overloaded
mining industry, were the causes of great discontent. Since the war the
monopoly has been abolished. The company is now practically a British
company, and its policy appears to be to meet its customers, and gain
their goodwill. Prices have been reduced by 30s. a case The prices now
being: blasting gelatine, 67s. 6d.; gelignite, 50s.; and dynamite, 50s.
a case, as against 97s. 6d., 87s. 6d., and 77s. 6d. respectively before
the war. These prices are fair, and it is stated are just sufficient to
give a margin of profit. At present in the Transvaal it is a question of
allowing free competition in explosives, or of just granting sufficient
protection to the existing factory to enable it to live. As the factory
finds employment for nearly 3000 hands, white and black, it would
certainly be a national loss if it had to shut down.
In the nature of things in South Africa all classes of industrial
undertakings are difficult to establish, and probably a moderate
protective tariff would be beneficial to the country in the long run, as
in the initial stages it would serve to turn the balance between profit
and loss. Every industry successfully established adds to the white
population, and is therefore to be welcomed. A policy of moderate
protection then for industries, which could be fed by the natural
resources of the country itself, should be carefully considered by the
Government. Such a policy, together with a thorough cutting down of the
present industry-killing railway rates, would go a long way to make a
speedy beginning in South Africa of the great industrial activity which
is sure to come eventually.
FOOTNOTES:
[13] The British South African Company has decided to expend £2,000,000
on railways in Rhodesia--£1,000,000 to be expended immediately for work
to be completed by the end of next year, and a like sum, towards the end
of 1903, will probably be sanctioned for the purpose of carrying the
Cape to Cairo line north of the Zambesi to the bend of the Kafue, a
distance of 300 miles. When the proposed work is carried out Rhodesia
will have over 2500 miles of railway.--ED.
[14] It is interesting to note that Portugal has strengthened her
position in Africa by granting to Mr. Robert Williams a concession for a
railway from Lobito Bay, near Benguella (in Portuguese West Africa), to
the eastern frontier of the Colony. Lobito Bay is four days' journey
nearer to England than the Cape, and it is described as having one of
the finest harbours in the world, and accommodation for larger vessels
than Delagoa Bay.--ED.
HEALTH RESORTS OF SOUTH AFRICA
BY ERNEST GRAHAM LITTLE
_B.A., formerly Porter Scholar, of the Cape University; M.D. University
of London; Member of the Royal College of Physicians; Physician, with
charge of the Skin Department, at St. Mary's Hospital; Senior Assistant
Physician to the East London Hospital for Children and Dispensary for
Women, Shadwell; late House Physician at St. George's Hospital and at
the City of London Hospital for Diseases of the Chest_
In these days, when the physical methods of treating disease are so
largely supplementing, and even supplanting, the methods of what may be
termed chemical therapeutics, the question of suitable health resorts is
one which must engage the attention of every medical man who is anxious
to do his best for his patient. The opening up of South Africa by the
success of British arms will be followed shortly, it is to be hoped, by
a vigorous development of the country through colonisation and the
investment of capital. Thus will be afforded a new and more extended
field for the employment of the natural therapeutics of climate, soil,
and environment, by which to combat the advance of many insidious
diseases. We English people are too prone to bend the knee to foreign
Baals, who but mock us as we worship. It should be an additional
pleasure to every enlightened Imperialist to think that within the
borders of our own empire, in lands peopled by those who speak our own
kindly mother-tongue, we may find physical conditions in every way
superior to those of foreign health-resorts, which have hitherto waxed
fat and become insolent in their fancied monopoly. I write with the hope
that many who are ignorant of these superior advantages possessed by
South Africa may be guided by these pages to make their choice of a
recreation-ground more intelligently, and consequently with better
results, than is at present usually the case. It is true that at the
moment invalids should be dissuaded from going to South Africa while the
difficulties exist of transport and maintenance of so large and so
sudden an increase of population. Supposing that our railway companies
had not been able to run any extra trains for the last Coronation
procession in London, we should have had a picture of congestion and
discomfort not unlike what is happening in South Africa at the present
time. But these difficulties are but of the moment and are passing
hourly. When once things have settled down a little, normal methods will
prevail; and it may confidently be predicted that travelling in South
Africa will become increasingly comfortable and easy as the flow of
population and wealth create a demand for increased facilities. Already
far nearer approximation to our standards of comfort has been made than
is dreamt of by stay-at-home Englishmen. The ox-waggon is not now the
usual means of covering the distance between Wynberg and Kimberley, as
was apparently thought by a medical lecturer not many years ago, since
he gravely advised his audience to adopt that method of transit. We have
only within the last few months seen in London electric trams as good as
those that have been running for some years from Cape Town to Sea Point.
The voyage to South Africa is one of the pleasantest and most healthful
in the world. It is in itself a powerful factor in the restoration of
mind and body. There are two routes by which one can travel, the East
and the West Coast routes. The East Coast route, by which Mr.
Chamberlain travelled, is of recent development, and the principal
steamers running on it are German (the German East Africa Company).
Passengers may join the boat at Hamburg, Antwerp, Marseilles, or Naples,
and the voyage is broken at Port Said, Suez, Aden, Zanzibar, Delagoa,
and is terminated at Durban. It is thus an interesting itinerary, and
for those who fear sea-sickness may be recommended, as the vessel is
never longer than five days continuously at sea. The pleasantest months
in which to travel by this route are February, March, and April. At
other times it is apt to be oppressively hot. The personnel of the fleet
is very obliging and anxious to promote the comfort of passengers, but
the German cooking is not to the taste of all English palates. The
steamers carry a German medical officer. The time occupied is about six
weeks, and the fares are from £48 for first-class, from £33 for second,
and from £21 for third. The West Coast service is at present practically
a monopoly of the Union-Castle Company, formed by the amalgamation of
the Union and Castle lines, which formerly competed for the passenger
traffic. The time occupied by this service, which carries the royal
mails, is much shorter, being usually about sixteen days. The fares
range from 35 guineas for first, from 23 guineas for second, and from 10
guineas for third class. The voyage is exceedingly pleasant at any time
of the year, and but little rough weather is met with, the worst part of
the buffeting being often in the English Channel and Bay of Biscay.
After leaving Madeira, which is about four days out from England, the
sea is usually smooth and the weather gloriously fine. The feeding and
accommodation on these steamers are comparable with those of a European
first-class hotel, and all of them carry a well-qualified medical man.
Latterly, some competition with these lines has been introduced, and is
to be welcomed. Messrs. Bucknall Brothers, Messrs. Rennie, the White
Star Company, the German East Africa line, the Shaw-Savill Company, and
others are now running frequent steamers to the Cape and Natal, and
their fares are lower than those of the Union-Castle line, and the
comfort and speed are not much less than obtain with this service.
Where, however, time and not money is the important consideration, the
Union-Castle steamers must be preferred. These steamers start from
London and Southampton, and call at Madeira, Teneriffe, Grand Canary,
and St. Helena (not more than two of these places on each voyage). The
steamers remain three or four days at Cape Town, and proceed up the east
coast, calling at Port Elizabeth, East London, and finally Durban, which
is the end of the voyage.
For many cases of nervous break-down, so common a feature of our
over-strained civilisation, I regard the Cape trip as an invaluable
restorative. Persons who have had a severe attack of influenza would
regain their strength more surely in a holiday spent in going and
returning from the Cape than in any other way. I particularise influenza
for its frequency, but the benefit is equally great in many other
affections in which the nervous system especially suffers. Thus I have
seen extraordinarily good results follow in a case of persistent
insomnia of many months' duration. The patient completely conquered his
sleeplessness during the voyage out, and was perfectly free from it on
his return, and has remained exempt for years. In another instance a
gentleman whose symptoms pointed to the early nervous break-down of
general paralysis, recovered his faculties of mental concentration and
memory as a result of a visit of a few weeks' duration. In the case of
phthisical patients, whose special desiderata I shall discuss throughout
this paper, it would be well for the companies to arrange, where
possible, for facilities for their sleeping under cover on deck, in
order to avoid the unavoidable closeness of cabins during the night.
This would be a matter of no difficulty or discomfort for three-quarters
of the voyage. The wants of delicate infants are met by the carriage in
most of the mail steamers of a cow, so that fresh milk can be obtained
throughout the voyage; but a store of milk, adequately sterilised before
leaving England, may with advantage be taken with them by anxious
mothers to ensure proper supplies for their infants. The milk keeps
perfectly, and a couple of dozen pint-bottles will last out the voyage,
and be a security against lacking this essential nourishment.
The ports of arrival in South Africa are usually Durban for the East
Coast routes and Cape Town for the West Coast. The health-characteristics
of these ports will be discussed after a general survey of the climatic
conditions of the country has been made.
It is a common mistake to send patients to South Africa with no
detailed instructions as to the localities best suited for individual
cases, and regardless of the fact that the physiography of the country
is so varied that no general statement as to the climate is possible.
Two broad features, however, may be immediately distinguished, if we
regard South Africa as consisting of interior highlands surrounded by a
narrow, low-lying coast belt, the width of the latter varying much, but
seldom exceeding fifty miles. The largest towns, with the exception of
Johannesburg, are comprised in the coast-belt, the uplands being for the
most part sparsely inhabited. The climate of the seaboard is further
conditioned by the prevalence of currents and winds, so that towns on
the east coast have a materially different atmosphere from those of the
west. It will, of course, be remembered that the seasons in the southern
hemisphere are exactly reversed with respect to those of the northern.
For the Cape the division of the year may be made as follows:--
_Spring_--September, October, November.
_Summer_--December, January, February.
_Autumn_--March, April, May.
_Winter_--June, July, August.
In South Africa, however, the matter is complicated by the fact that the
rains occur, in some parts, mostly in the winter, as in England and
northern countries generally, and in other parts are strictly confined
to the summer. The humidity of the air is probably the most important
factor in the healthiness or otherwise of a climate for many diseases,
and this point must therefore be most carefully considered. For phthisis
in particular moist warmth has long been condemned as only less harmful
than moist cold. Madeira and the Riviera have consequently lost much of
their former vogue as suitable resorts for phthisis, on account of their
high degree of humidity. It is to be earnestly desired that the claims
of the highlands of South Africa to be considered the most advantageous
country in the world for all but the latest stages of this disease,
should become more widely known, alike to patients and physicians. A
further consideration, of the highest importance to non-wealthy
consumptives, is that South Africa is a new and progressive country, in
which there are good prospects that the change of environment will lead,
not only to restored health, but to the means of earning a livelihood as
well.
[Illustration: BLOEMFONTEIN
Drawing by Donald E. M'Cracken]
It will be necessary now to examine more in detail the special
characteristics of the several regions of South Africa and their
relative fitness for receiving patients and visitors. Besides the
question of climate many other factors must be considered, such as the
accommodation for invalids, the possibility of obtaining comfort and
suitable food, and the social conditions which form, from a
psychological standpoint, an important element in the treatment. To
take the last point first, I would earnestly deprecate the focal
accumulation of a large number of invalids, especially of tubercular
invalids, in one centre; not so much because of the infectivity of such
an accumulation, but because of the deplorable mental depression which
results from the constant contemplation of other sufferers from this
disease. Any one who has had experience of large hospitals or sanatoria
for phthisis must have been struck with the undesirability, from this
point of view, of the aggregation of patients. Mind and body are so
inextricably mingled that the intelligent physician will attach not less
importance to factors concerning the first than to those affecting the
second. Let the sick man, therefore, avoid his sick fellows, when this
is possible, and mix by preference with the healthy and robust. Health,
like ill-health, is contagious. But when the patient's forces are too
far shattered to allow of this, sanatoria become necessary. I contend
still that these should be small and disseminated, rather than central
and on a colossal scale. This subject will be discussed in greater
detail later.
Accommodation and the obtaining of creature comforts for invalids are,
of course, more practicable in the towns than in the sparsely-populated
country districts, but, unhappily, the towns are mostly confined to the
coast-belt, which is not the healthiest part of South Africa. The
variations of climate within this coast-belt are great, and are
influenced, as has been said, by the prevalence of winds and rains, and
sea-currents. The eastern and south-eastern parts of the seaboard have
heavy summer rains; the southern and south-western parts have in the
first a rainfall somewhat evenly distributed through the year, with
winter rains as one approaches the west. The imaginary approximate line
between the summer and winter rains would divide the southern coast in
the longitude of Grahamstown. West of this line the rainfall may be said
to vary between ten and twenty-five inches; east of this line it is
uniformly above the latter figure. The mean humidity of the coast-line
is about 75 per cent. It may be said at once that for this reason none
of the coast districts, as regards climate, is an advantageous resort
for all-the-year-round residence for phthisical patients, but that the
seaboard having winter rains is _ipso facto_ less suitable than that in
which the rainfall is chiefly in the summer months. It is unfortunate
that hitherto many circumstances have conspired to make the English
visitor in search of health reluctant to live out of the towns, though
these are often by no means the most suitable places for him. Political
dissension between the two great occupying races has been the bane of
South Africa and especially of the Cape Colony. It has come about that
the progressive English have settled in the towns, while the
unprogressive Dutch have kept tenaciously to the country. As a corollary
from this, it is still the reproach of South Africa that, outside of a
few towns, it is impossible to obtain good accommodation for the
traveller, and still less for the invalid. It is earnestly to be hoped
that the wider knowledge of the country, consequent upon the attention
which has been concentrated upon it during the war, will lead to a large
immigration of settlers who, eschewing the goldfields, will be content
with the securer, if less considerable, competence to be obtained from
agriculture, and will thus develop the country. It was a very wise and
far-seeing plan of the late Mr. Rhodes to settle energetic English
farmers in the midst of a stagnant Dutch district, and it is desirable
in every way to break up the hard-and-fast racial division which has
made so permanent an impress on the land. But this must be a matter of
time, and for many years it must remain true that in the precious search
for health the English invalid must be content to live in the midst of
an alien majority, sometimes bitterly antipathetic to all things
English. An even more important reason for keeping to the towns is that
owing to the devastation of cattle caused by rinderpest and red-water,
food, especially fresh meat, milk, and butter, has become dear and
difficult to procure. To sum up, it may therefore be said that to the
seriously ill, who are incapable of roughing it in any sense, the coast
lands, though as regards climate not so satisfactory as the upper
plateaux, are the only possible resource; but the sick man who is not
yet so sick as to be laid up, is urged to quit the coast as soon as
possible, and to take up his abode in the higher plains.
HEALTH RESORTS IN THE COAST-BELT
Cape Town, the capital of the Cape Colony, is the usual terminus of the
voyage from England. It lies at the foot of Table Mountain, on the
shores of Table Bay. Though an ugly town, it has natural surroundings of
great beauty, and its suburbs are picturesque in the extreme. It has an
excellent water-supply derived from Table Mountain, but its drainage is
bad and the death-rate excessively high for a position of such natural
advantage. Living is dear and at the present time exorbitant, owing to
the large influx of persons wishing to go up to the goldfields, and
unable to proceed on their way by reason of the congestion of the
railway and the impossibility of finding house-room at their ultimate
destination. The hotels are for the most part expensive, and leave much
to be desired as regards cleanliness and comfort to the traveller fresh
from Europe. There are numerous boarding-houses which are often
comfortable and well managed, and in which the charges are about £12 per
month for each person. The city itself, however, is not a pleasant
place to live in, and most of the business community have houses in the
suburbs, retaining only offices and shops in the town. The pleasantest
residential district within the metropolis itself is the part called
"the Gardens," at the top of Government Avenue, a fine shady walk not
open to wheeled traffic, with a double row of oak trees on each side,
some of them planted by Governor Van der Stell, between 1679 and 1699.
The magnificent Parliament buildings, Government House (the residence of
the High Commissioner), many of the Government offices, the Public
Library and Museum, the South African College, are all in close
proximity to this part of the town. The library contains the most
notable collection of books to be found in any of our colonies,
including, as it does, the great Grey collection and the Dessinian
bequest. It is particularly rich in literature dealing with South
African history.
There is a large native quarter where the Malays congregate. It is
overcrowded and insanitary to a degree, and contributes conspicuously to
the high death-rate.
The residential suburbs, which are very healthy, stretch east and west
of the town, and are connected with it by rail and electric car. The
former are the more fashionable, and have become familiar to English
readers during the past three years. Rondebosch, in which is Mr.
Rhodes's house, Groot Schuur (bequeathed to the High Commissioner), is
five miles out. Claremont, a couple of miles eastward, has a large and
excellent sanatorium which was of great value to the military. Wynberg,
a mile further east, has a military hospital, and is a particularly
healthy and pleasant district. It has an excellent independent
water-supply. The Government wine-farm, Constantia, which gives the name
to the well-known Cape liqueur, is situated in the neighbourhood. The
suburban railway is continued to the east, passing by Muizenberg and
Kalk Bay, favourite seaside resorts for holiday-makers, and terminating
at Simonstown, the headquarters of the Cape and West Coast Imperial
naval squadrons. To the west of the bay lie the suburbs of Green and Sea
Point, separated from the town by a large expanse of flat open land
adjoining the sea, and called "the Common," upon which a large military
camp was located during the war. The fresh Atlantic breezes blow
directly across the Point, and this is one of the healthiest spots on
the coast-belt. A magnificent new road, the Victoria Road, has been made
along the sides of the precipitous slope forming the western edge of the
Cape peninsula, as far as Houts Bay. From this there is an inland
carriage-drive to Wynberg. The Victoria road a little resembles, but is
far more magnificent than, the celebrated Corniche road in the French
Riviera. The late Lord Carnarvon, when he visited South Africa in 1887,
called this "the finest drive in the world." January, February, and
March are the hottest months of the year in Cape Town. The mean maximum
temperature for these three months is 80°. June, July, and August are
the coldest, with a mean maximum of 62°, and a mean minimum of 49°.
Clothing as for the English summer and winter respectively is
recommended, but it must be remembered that even in summer the nights
are cool, a drop of over 20° between midday and evening temperatures
being common. The mean humidity is 79.
Fruit in the Cape peninsula is plentiful and good--grapes, oranges,
tangerines, peaches, apricots, nectarines, strawberries, plums, apples,
quinces, melons, pears, pomegranates, grenadillas, loquats, figs,
guavas, tomatoes, are all procurable in season. The flora of the Cape
peninsula is one of the most interesting in the world. Over 10,000
varieties of heath have been described as occurring in this small area.
Mr. Chamberlain should be interested in the _Disa grandiflora_, the
celebrated orchid to be found only on the summit of Table Mountain.
It is well to give a caution as to the prevalence of venomous snakes
which abound in the Cape peninsula and South Africa generally. The cobra
and the puff-adder are the most dangerous of these fearsome things. A
celebrated South African authoress has confided to me that her habit of
looking at her feet when walking, a habit upon which she received much
banter in Europe, was derived from her early timidity of snakes.
Cautious observation of one's tread in tramping across the Cape plains
is very necessary, and many fatal accidents have been due to
carelessness in this respect. The visitor is strongly urged to carry
with him on any such expedition a hypodermic syringe and a supply of
Calmette's "Antivenene," which may be obtained from the British
Institute of Preventive Medicine. Calmette's experiments go to show that
the venom of all species of snakes and of scorpions is of a similar
nature. His serum is obtained by the inoculation of horses with the
poison of the cobra. The remedial injection should be made immediately
upon the occurrence of the bite. The serum keeps well for months if
retained in a cool dark place. The dose is about five cubic centimetres
of the serum, to be injected hypodermically.
It is curious that this late observation of modern science should have
been in a measure anticipated by the natives, who have been accustomed
for many years to eat snakes and swallow their venom, with a view to
render themselves immune to the bites of these reptiles.
An infective sore, occurring mostly on the hands and feet, is often
contracted in walking on the veldt in South Africa, and it has been
called veldt-sore. Its bacteriology has lately been thoroughly worked
out, and it appears to be due to a specific micro-organism, though
Professor Wright, of Netley, claims it to be the ordinary microbe of
suppuration. I have had personal experience of this small ailment, and
can vouch for the discomfort and intractability of the sore thus
produced. Free drainage of the wound and antiseptic dressings are
recommended.
Another note of warning may be fitly included here. Domestic service
being performed almost entirely by natives, it is often necessary to
entrust young children to their care. Unhappily, venereal diseases are
exceedingly common among the coloured population. I have seen deplorable
instances of the infection of young children with gonorrhoea and
syphilis derived from their native nurses. These should, therefore, be
selected with the utmost circumspection.
Durban, the second most usual termination of the voyage from Europe, is
the seaport of the Colony of Natal. Cape Town and Durban have the
distinction of being the only ports in South Africa at which landing can
be effected direct from the ocean-steamers. The hottest months are
January, February, and March, with a mean maximum of 84°, and a mean
humidity of 76 per cent. Its dry season is the winter, and it is at its
best then, and is a favourite winter resort for residents of
Johannesburg, from which it is only twenty-four hours by rail. From
April to September, bright, clear, sunny weather may be expected, and
the climate is exceedingly enjoyable. The town is one of the most
English in South Africa, and its hotels, boarding-houses, &c., are good,
but woefully deficient in number for the present influx of settlers.
Houses are extremely difficult to procure, and building is very
expensive. The recent working of important coalfields near Durban has
increased its value as a port and coaling station. The water-supply is
ample and excellent, being derived from rivers several miles from the
town, and being passed through filter-beds before distribution. A modern
drainage system is approaching completion, and the town is being
supplied with electric lighting. Mangoes, pine-apples, bananas, and
custard apples are plentiful, in addition to many of the fruits
previously enumerated as growing in the Cape Colony. There are large
sugar and tea plantations in the vicinity, and rice, coffee, pepper, and
tobacco are cultivated with success. To sum up, it may be said that
although the summer humidity and heat make it not well suited for
phthisical patients, the town is in the winter months one of the
healthiest in South Africa, and one of the most progressive and pleasant
to live in.
Port Elizabeth, the third most important of the coast-towns, is not to
be recommended as a permanent residence for invalids. Its rainfall is
more evenly distributed through the year, and the humidity, which is
remarkably constant, is about 75 per cent. The variations in summer and
winter heat are also within a small range; the highest mean temperature
for summer being 75°; the lowest mean for winter 48°. But the winds are
trying, and render it unsuitable for invalids. Uitenhage, a small
village three-quarters of an hour's run from Port Elizabeth, is far
healthier, and is rapidly becoming a favourite suburb. It has an
exceptionally good water-supply. In the near neighbourhood are the
largest vineyards in the Eastern Province.
These three towns may serve as types of the climatic conditions to be
met with on the south-western, southern, and south-eastern coast-line
respectively. It must be again emphasised that climatically none of the
coast resorts are as beneficial for phthisis and chest affections
generally as the uplands; but that other factors render them at the
present time, and for the immediate future, the most suitable resorts
for the seriously ill. And though climatically they are not the best
that South Africa can afford, they are, nevertheless, better than most
of the European resorts that have hitherto been frequented. For they all
afford more prolonged sunshine, and purer air, and are more exempt from
the infectivity of overcrowding than is the case with the fashionable
recruiting places of Europe. But it is to the highlands of South Africa
that we eventually look with confidence as promising the maximum of
benefit, which will be available as soon as the difficulties of food and
accommodation and social environment are adjusted. From the coast-line a
series of terraces rise to the northward, with extreme regularity on the
western three-fourths, with less uniformity on the eastern fourth of the
southern continent, as far as the Zambesi. Four terraces may thus be
distinguished, and are divided as follows:--
1. The coast plateau comprising the land within fifty miles of
the coast, and reaching a level below 1000 feet.
2. The Southern Karroo, the plateau between the Outeniqua and
Langenbergen mountains to the south, and the Zwaartebergen to
the north. Level from 1000 to 1500 feet.
3. The Great or Central Karroo, the plateau between the
Zwaartebergen range to the south, and the Nieuwveld and
Roggeveld to the north. Height between 2000 and 3000 feet.
4. The Northern Karroo, stretching north to the Orange River at
a level of 4000 feet and over. The Transvaal and Rhodesia,
though not commonly included as within the Karroo districts,
are high tablelands with similar altitudes, and may be
described under this heading.
The climate of the coast plateau is similar to that of the seaboard, and
much need not be added to the description given under that heading.
Visitors to the higher plains of South Africa must be warned to go not
unprovided with warm clothing, and to be careful of evening chills. The
fall of temperature as night comes is very great. It has been observed
that chills which in England usually result in nasal catarrh, in South
Africa take the form of intestinal catarrh, and most visitors experience
this discomfort soon after arrival.
In the Southern Karroo is situated the important health-resort of Ceres,
much frequented by the residents of Cape Town, from which it is distant
only 84 miles. It is a pretty little Dutch town, 1700 feet above
sea-level, with picturesque surroundings. It has a small sanatorium
under very competent medical supervision. The water-supply is derived
from mountain springs, and is very pure. The climate is drier than that
of the coast plateau, and its ease of access from Cape Town enables
supplies to be readily brought up. Being within the line of winter rains
it is not recommended for phthisical patients in other than summer
months, but during the latter, which may be taken as extending from
October to March, the phthisical patient could live and sleep in the
open air in properly-constructed sanatoria. It is much to be desired
that further accommodation of this kind should be supplied, as Ceres
forms a comfortable halting-place, where the phthisical patient may with
advantage spend a few weeks on his road to the higher plateaux, and it
would be an invaluable resort for delicate persons whom physicians are
obliged to send out of England during the English winter, a time at
which Ceres would be at its best.
Grahamstown, though not properly in the Southern Karroo, is at nearly
the same level, 1700 feet, as Ceres, and may be considered here. Its
rains occur mostly in the summer, and it is consequently more to be
recommended as a winter resort. It is one of the prettiest towns in
South Africa and one of the most English, and it vies with the capital
in educational facilities. It is best reached from Port Elizabeth, from
which it is 100 miles by rail, but the journey occupies nine hours. Its
climate is remarkably equable but somewhat damp. It has a public
library, second only to that of Cape Town, and a magnificent museum.
Sport is still to be procured in the neighbourhood, and the society is
more cultured and intellectual than is the case in many colonial towns.
It has long enjoyed the sobriquet of the "City of the Saints," and is a
pleasant and healthy place for family settlement, the schools being
numerous and excellent. It is not, however, so well adapted for the
presence of sanatoria for phthisis as many other districts in South
Africa, owing to its humidity.
The Great or Central Karroo and the Northern Karroo may be considered
together, as they have very similar climates, differing only in the
greater height of the northern plateau with the consequent influences on
temperature and dryness. It may be said to offer a crescendo of
advantage as the elevation increases. Here is probably to be found one
of the most perfect climates in the world for tuberculosis, and one of
the most healthy and invigorating. I would defy the most miserable
hypochondriac alive to remain uncheerful on a bright sunny day on these
glorious uplands. His struggle to remain lugubrious would be as hopeless
as Mr. Thompson's after his second glass of port, even when that
gentleman's deference for Sir Austin Feverel urgently required the
effort. Something of the same exhilaration may be felt in the higher
Swiss altitudes, but unaccompanied by the vivifying influences of the
sun. Sunshine and pure air, it must be remembered, are the strongest
bactericidal agents known. Mr. Clinton Dent, lecturing at St. George's
Hospital, gave expression to his astonishment at the surgical triumphs
of healing, which he attributed to pure air, achieved under his
observation during the war. The dryness, and consequent clearness, of
the air are remarkable, and indeed incredible to the northern European.
This feature explains the inferior shooting of our soldiers on their
first arrival in South Africa; they would invariably sight their rifles
too low, their targets being, in fact, far more distant than seemed
possible by reason of the clearness. And this dryness makes it possible
to tolerate extremes both of heat and cold which without this factor
would mean serious discomfort.
[Illustration: THE MORNING MARKET AT KIMBERLEY
Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen]
In fact, the moist warmth of our English summers is infinitely more
oppressive and less easily borne than the far higher temperatures, but
tempered by comparative absence of moisture, which prevail in the
Karroo. The rarity of sunstroke throughout South Africa is a clinical
observation which establishes the truth of the statements just made. In
the records of a military hospital in the Northern Karroo during the
months from August to April, including therefore the hottest time of the
year, out of 3000 medical cases not a single instance of sunstroke was
noted. The experience gained in this hospital has an additional value
from the circumstance that the gifted physician, the late Dr. Washbourn,
was the observer, and some of the results he records may be more
eloquent than many pages of description. Of the medical cases (nearly
3000), 546 were enteric, 379 dysentery, 296 muscular rheumatism, 258
malaria, 187 "continued fever," 152 diarrhoea, 93 jaundice, 70
tonsilitis, 71 influenza, and only 43 bronchitis and chest affections.
Dr. Washbourn acutely remarks, "From this list it may be roughly
concluded that the air in South Africa is good; the food bad." It
will be noticed that intestinal diseases form more than a third of the
total. The dysentery was probably due to faulty ingesta and not to the
specific organism usually associated with dysentery, since amoebæ coli
could not be found in the stools. Malaria occurs only in limited areas
in the northern Transvaal and parts of Rhodesia; the Karroo proper and
the coast-belt are entirely free. The causation of malaria is now so
well understood that it must yearly become a more and more preventable
disease. But the great outstanding features of the list, the prevalence
of intestinal diseases, the absence of respiratory troubles, merit
closer examination. The intestinal diseases, under which the muscular
rheumatism, (caused by toxines), the jaundice, and much of the continued
fever, must be included, are due to ingesta, _i.e._ food and water. The
difficulty of obtaining good food, and the absence of sanitation which
is the main cause of the impurity of the water, are the obstacles which
must speedily be overcome in order to make the second feature assume its
proper value in the treatment of disease. The rainfall is everywhere
adequate for the supply of pure water, but this must be properly stored
and kept from contagia. The interesting experiments which Dr. Vivian
Poore has made on the subject of rural hygiene are convincing as to the
possibility of disposing of excreta with complete security to health,
and material profit to the community, without the necessity of abundant
water. He has found that in the dry-earth system of closets, followed by
the application of the excreta to the soil and their superficial burial
in the humus, with subsequent tillage, a perfectly successful system of
drainage is obtainable. In an acre and a half of ground he has for many
years disposed of the excreta of a hundred persons, and the crops he has
raised upon this land have yielded a profit of £50 per annum per acre.
It appears to me fortunate therefore that most of the South African
towns (except on the coast) have not yet adopted the costly and wasteful
methods of destruction of sewage which are the fashion of the moment and
which entail an immense loss of water. An intelligent application of
very simple methods, within the reach of the smallest community or of
the largest town, will ensure proper destruction of excreta, increased
fertility of soil, and security against contamination of water--the
latter being by far the greatest danger in South Africa. The supplying
of food is intimately bound up with the conservation of water. The soil
of the Karroo is astonishingly fertile when watered, and irrigation
should be widely adopted. In places where this has been done the most
satisfactory results have been obtained. At Matjesfontein, for example,
a small oasis in the midst of the dry Karroo has been created within
recent years by intelligent methods of irrigation. It is to be hoped
that more energetic and progressive settlers will ultimately, as farms
change hands under the financial stress of the war, tackle these
difficulties with modern methods of agriculture. When it becomes
possible to obtain fresh food-stuffs at moderate cost, the country will
be ripe for the multiplication of sanatoria and places of reception for
invalids and visitors. The type of sanatorium to be recommended for
phthisical patients is still much debated. The essay of Dr. Latham and
Mr. West, of St. George's Hospital, who have lately won the King's
prize, offered for the best solution of this question, will be published
within a few weeks, and may go some way towards settling the model to be
adopted. At the present time only a few sanatoria exist in South Africa,
and it will be well to devote a few words to the localities in which
they are to be found.
Beaufort West, on the northern main line from Cape Town, and Cradock, on
the northern main line from Port Elizabeth, are old-established
health-resorts which offer fair accommodation for invalids. They are of
nearly equal altitude, some 2800 feet, and are both in possession of a
good water-supply. Their moderate elevation and ease of access from the
coast render them particularly suitable for advanced cases of phthisis
who are too ill to travel farther north, and for asthma and cardiac
affections.
Howick, on the main north line to the Transvaal from Durban, altitude
3500 feet, was much used as a convalescent military base during the war,
and is a popular health-resort with adequate invalid accommodation. It
has a good all-the-year-round climate, but is particularly recommended
for the winter, which is its rainless season. Estcourt, a little farther
north on the same line, is some 300 feet higher, with much the same
climate. It has a sanatorium. Standerton, 5000 feet, near the
Natal-Transvaal border, and on the Durban line, has a bracing winter
climate, and is then much frequented by Johannesburg residents, anxious
to escape the dust-storms of the Rand. Wakkerstroom, 6000 feet, a few
miles east of Standerton, is an advancing health-resort, which has a
sanatorium. It is best adapted for cases of early phthisis. Its altitude
contra-indicates it for persons with heart affections.
Middelburg, 4000 feet, in the Great Karroo, on the Port Elizabeth line,
has a sanatorium, and opportunities of accommodation in farms in the
neighbourhood. It has a summer rainfall, and is therefore more
especially to be recommended as a winter resort.
Kimberley, altitude 4000 feet, on the Great Northern Plateau, is the
fourth largest city in South Africa, and is entirely unique in this,
that it may be described as being run by a benevolent despotism, that of
the De Beers Company, who own the diamond mines. This company has built
at its own cost the best sanatorium in South Africa. The fierce heat
and the dust-storms render it somewhat trying as a permanent residence.
Bloemfontein, 4500 feet, in the Northern Karroo, the capital of the
Orange River Colony, has long been a favourite resort for phthisical
patients, and has a well-deserved reputation for the extreme dryness of
its climate. It has summer rains of short duration but very heavy while
they last. Its mean humidity is 58. December, January, and February are
the hottest months, with a mean maximum of 85.° It has very fair
hotel-accommodation at prices much lower than those ruling in
Johannesburg, and has sanatorium establishments. It is on the main line
of railway from Cape Town, from Port Elizabeth, and from East London. It
has a good water-supply, and should become a most successful centre for
the treatment of many pulmonary affections. The principal drawback to
its healthiness is the prevalence of dust-storms in the late winter
months.
Johannesburg, 5700 feet, in the great northern plateau of the Transvaal,
is the largest and busiest town in South Africa, and cannot, for these
reasons, be recommended as a health-resort; moreover, for some time to
come the scramble for accommodation and the general roughing that
results must keep away all but the most active and robust. But it is in
a very healthy position, and enjoys a splendid climate for ten months of
the year. The later winter months (July and August) are spoilt by the
severe dust-storms, and the wealthier Johannesburg residents usually
leave it during these months. It is the centre towards which all
railways converge, and may be reached from Cape Town (in 45 hours by
mail train, once a week; in 60 hours by the ordinary daily service),
from Port Elizabeth in 43 hours; from Durban in 24 hours. It has summer
rains in heavy downpours, with clear, fine weather between the showers.
The healthiest parts of Johannesburg are the Hill and Parktown, which
are fashionable suburbs. There are numerous hotels, which at the present
time are very expensive; a single room with board cannot be had under
25s. a day; servants' wages are high, from £6 to £10 per month;
food-stuffs are dear and difficult to procure; fresh meat is
unobtainable, all supplies being imported frozen; eggs are 11s. a dozen;
milk 1s. a pint; house-rent, for a six-roomed house, averages from £20
to £30 a month. These details are mentioned to give the intending
visitor warning what he may expect at the present moment; and the great
rush which is continuing will doubtless keep up the prices and lack of
accommodation, so that for a considerable time to come Johannesburg is a
place for the delicate and the ill to avoid.
Pretoria, the official capital of the Transvaal colony, is 30 miles
north of Johannesburg, but it is 1760 feet lower, and is sheltered and
shut in by mountains, which render it a pleasant resort from
Johannesburg in its windy months. The winter climate is delightful. The
sanitation, both of Johannesburg and Pretoria, is very imperfect and
bad, and enteric and dysentery are in consequence very prevalent.
Pneumonia is one of the scourges of Johannesburg, probably owing to the
frequency of chills, the variation in temperature from the heat of the
day to the cool of the evening being very great--as much as 70° at
times. Water is not too plentiful, and there are seasons of scarcity
which increase epidemic disease.
Basutoland has been called the Switzerland of South Africa from its
beautiful mountain-scenery. It is, however, not open to invalids, or
indeed to travellers, owing to its being still a native reserve.
Harrismith, 5250 feet, in the Orange River Colony, is probably the
nearest available health-resort to Basutoland, and is an excellent place
for consumption in earlier stages. A sanatorium is being provided. It is
easily reached from Durban. I have known a case of phthisis with
repeated hæmoptysis to be arrested by a visit of six months to
Harrismith.
Rhodesia is, as has been said, a continuation of the elevated tableland
of the great northern plateau, and its climate is very similar to that
of the higher Karroo, with the exception that malaria is found in some
parts of the country, and is not present in the Karroo. The country is
on the whole healthy, but is as yet too undeveloped to receive invalids.
THE SPAS OF SOUTH AFRICA
There are numerous mineral-springs in the country, but they remain for
the most part but little used, and there is here an excellent
opportunity for future development. A few words upon some of the better
known of these may be useful.
Caledon, altitude 900 feet, 80 miles from Cape Town, is the best known
and most developed watering-place in South Africa. A line of railway,
connecting it directly with the Cape main-trunk line, has just been
completed. Its reputation dates from the times of the earliest Dutch
occupation. It has ferruginous springs, both hot and cold, which offer a
most successful treatment for gout, rheumatism, anæmia, and cardiac
diseases and renal insufficiency. There is excellent and increasing
accommodation in connection with the springs. The climate is very
pleasant, and especially to be recommended in summer, as being drier
than the coast towns, though within such a short distance of Cape Town.
The rains are in the winter.
Brandvlei, near Worcester, 100 miles from Cape Town, has some very hot
sulphur-springs which have not yet been much used.
Montagu, altitude 750 feet, near Robertson (140 miles by rail from Cape
Town), has some hot mineral-springs which have been used with success in
rheumatism and skin diseases, and there is an "établissement des bains"
under progressive management.
Aliwal North, 4500 feet, on the Orange River, best reached from East
London, may be compared to the Swiss watering-place, Loêche, in the
combination of hot sulphur-springs with a great altitude. The baths are
excellent for rheumatism and skin diseases, and good accommodation is
procurable. The climate is a delightful one, with short summer rains and
bright dry winter. The altitude is unfavourable for cardiac affections,
but good for phthisis, and this has long been a much commended resort
for the latter disease.
Warmbaths, altitude about 5000 feet, a thermal spring, connected by rail
with Johannesburg and Pretoria (from the latter of which it is distant
70 miles), is rapidly becoming an important spa. The water issues at a
very high temperature. It is ferruginous, sulphurous, and alkaline.
Increased accommodation here is very desirable, and will no doubt be
rapidly supplied. Rheumatic affections, anæmia, and skin diseases are
benefited by this treatment, but heart disorders are aggravated by the
high elevation.
It is impossible within the limits assigned to me to go into further
details about the magnificent opportunities for the health-seeker which
this great country must offer in the near future. To those who have been
bred under those kindly skies, and who have left them permanently, an
incurable nostalgia often comes, when the burden of this murk-laden
atmosphere of London seems indeed intolerable. I hope that these few
pages may lead many a sufferer to find new vigour and new courage in
that sunnier air. May it prove to them in very fact a land of Good Hope
and pleasant memories, whether they remain in the country or whether
they make but a fleeting visit.[15]
FOOTNOTES:
[15] I have obtained much help, for which I wish to make due
acknowledgment, from the following works on South Africa, which I would
commend to the inquirer on the subject:--
"John Noble's Hand-Book," published in 1887 by the Cape Government.
"Health Resorts of South Africa." Dr. Arthur Fuller, 1898.
Messrs. Brown's "Guide to South Africa," published by the Union-Castle
Company, 1902.
"South African Studies." Dr. Alfred Hillier.
"The New South Africa." Bleloch.
COMMERCIAL PROSPECTS
BY WILLIAM EGLINGTON
_Editor and Proprietor of "The British and South African Export
Gazette"_
It is somewhat of an anomaly that of the scores of books which have been
published of late years in connection with South Africa, not one has
contained any direct reference to its commerce. This is the more
remarkable when it is remembered how little is known, outside the circle
of those associated with the trade, of its actual extent and importance.
It is true that here and there in the daily press statements, more or
less accurate, from time to time appear as to its trend, and of late
quite a number of technical journals, somewhat tardily, appear to have
only just awakened to the fact that the huge demands made upon British
industries by South Africa's consumptive requirements are worthy of
further investigation. But however admirable their intentions, the
process of enlightening the public to which they set themselves would
seem to have failed of its object, for the reason that, while each has
done its best in its own particular groove, collectively they reveal
nothing but what interests their own immediate circle of readers.
In view of the wide publicity given to South African affairs in recent
times, the ignorance of the average man as to the remarkable expansion
which has taken place in South African trade since the Majuba scuttle is
not a little astonishing. He doubtless has a hazy idea that it runs well
into millions, but there his knowledge ceases. He has had it dinned into
his ears that British manufacturers have been asleep and sacrificed the
trade to the greater activities of their rivals, and while he may
deplore this fact, and bewail the decadence of our erstwhile commercial
supremacy in oversea markets, there his interest ceases. It is with the
view of enlightening a wider public as to the extent and scope of our
present trade with South Africa, together with its future prospects,
that this article has reference, and it will also serve to show, despite
erroneous assertions to the contrary, that we have nothing to fear from
foreign competition. However lax our manufacturers may have been in the
past in allowing their rivals to secure so firm a footing in a market
where, until a few years ago, they were supreme, after a perusal of the
facts herein adduced it will be conceded that their present position is
one from which it will be a matter of extreme difficulty to dislodge
them.
Strange as it may appear, South African trade first began to show signs
of expansion after the events which followed upon the retrocession of
the Transvaal to the Boers in 1881. Until that year it was practically
insignificant in its proportions and almost stationary in its volume,
being mainly assisted by the activity shown in the diamond industry,
gold not then having become a factor in quickening the commercial pulse.
In the year named, the total imports into the country from all sources
amounted to £11,140,027, of which the Cape Colony took, in round
figures, all but two millions. After 1881, however, the imports
steadily, if slowly, increased in bulk, which was due less to active
developments in South Africa itself than to the gradual opening up of
the country after the first Boer war. In 1891, in which year it may be
said the fabulous wealth of the Witwatersrand first began to attract the
attention of the civilised world, the value of the imports stood at
£12,230,270, of which the Cape Colony took practically the same amount
of goods as in 1881, while Natal had improved her position by taking
about one-fourth of the total. After 1891 the imports increased with
extraordinary rapidity in proportion as the gold industry made headway,
until in 1901 they touched the high-water mark with £31,595,332, or
practically three times what they stood at twenty years before.
In 1881, the quantity of goods imported from countries other than
England was so insignificant as not to be worth including in the
official returns, and so far as the United States was concerned
absolutely no trade with South Africa was done at all, and but very
little with the European Continent. In 1892, however, Germany and
America began to pay greater attention to the possibilities of what then
showed signs of becoming an exceedingly promising market, the share of
the former country in that year being only £231,172, while that of the
latter was £418,126. How successful they were in their efforts is seen
by the fact that with each succeeding year the value of the goods
entering South Africa from those countries grew by leaps and bounds,
until in 1901 the German share had increased to £1,118,010, and that of
the United States to £2,640,193. Neither of these amounts was, however,
the highest point reached by either Germany or America, their record
years being 1896 and 1898 respectively. It is unquestionable that had
British manufacturers paid sufficient attention to the possibilities of
the South African trade in the period from 1881-91, and had realised how
rapidly the country was developing, thereby quickening them to action,
the foreigner would not have got the hold upon its commerce which he now
has, the combined share of all the countries competing with Great
Britain amounting in 1901 to £4,590,681, or 14.9 per cent. of the total
imports. Although the purely British share was as much as 65.6 per
cent., the balance being made up by the shares of our Colonies and
non-competing countries (i.e. goods imported from countries that Great
Britain cannot supply), much remains to be done to retain even that
percental share; but it is satisfactory to note that the lessons of the
past have not been lost upon us, and that with the general awakening to
the foreign menace there is every likelihood that we shall more than
hold our own in the future, provided our manufacturers are not
handicapped by the exactions of labour, the excessive cost of which, and
the general disinclination of the Trades Unions to adopt modern
labour-saving machinery, being the two principal factors in determining
whether competition with other countries shall be effective or not.
[Illustration: CHURCH STREET EAST, PRETORIA
Photo by Barnett & Co., Johannesburg]
It may not be without interest to put on record the values of the
principal articles imported into South Africa in 1901 from all sources.
They were as follow:--
Animals, Live £71,771
Articles of Food and Drink 9,641,809
Articles of Personal Use 6,120,903
Builders' Materials 1,245,609
Drugs and Chemicals 437,610
Electrical Goods 136,964
Explosives and Weapons 119,379
Hardware, Cutlery, and Ironmongery 1,276,041
Household Requisites 1,969,724
Iron and Steel 596,928
Leather and Manufactures 394,525
Machinery, &c. 859,685
Paper, Books, &c. 689,216
Textile Manufactures 2,104,245
Vehicles and Vehicular Material 968,210
Other Articles 1,943,465
Goods by Parcels Post 520,265
Stores for Government 2,498,983
-----------
Total £31,595,332
===========
The purely British (_i.e._ the United Kingdom's) share in this trade was
as follows:
Animals, Living £29,306
Arms, Ammunition, &c. 143,697
Articles of Food and Drink 2,533,163
Articles of Personal Use 3,528,907
Builders' Materials, &c. 175,078
Drugs and Chemicals 423,190
Household Requisites 1,600,763
Ironmongery and Hardware 275,245
Leather and Manufactures 1,762,438
Machinery, Millwork, &c. 1,210,151
Metals and Manufactures 1,762,438
Oils, other than Essential 55,076
Paper and Stationery 577,228
Textile Manufactures 2,387,666
Vehicles and Parts 635,153
Vessels (Ships and Boats) 23,214
Wood and Timber 108,034
Miscellaneous Articles 965,655
-----------
Total £20,648,529
It is not without instruction to those who are unaware of the potential
character of South Africa's buying capacity, the reasons for which will
be more clearly set forth later on, to compare the amount spent on the
purchase of oversea goods by the white and black population with those
of our other colonies and India:--
+------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| |White |Native |Total |British |
| |Population.|Population.|Population.|Exports to.|
+------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| | | | | £ |
|Australia | 3,577,000 | 200,000| 3,777,000| 21,329,965|
|Canada | 5,170,000 | 201,000| 5,371,000| 8,153,815|
|India | 275,000 |294,000,000|294,295,000| 39,753,348|
|New Zealand | 767,000 | 52,000| 819,000| 5,601,979|
|South Africa| 1,007,000 | 3,000,000| 4,007,000| 20,326,006|
+------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
+------------+------------+------------+------------+
| | Per Head | Per Head | Per Head |
| | White. | Native. | Total. |
| | | | |
+------------+------------+------------+------------+
| | £ _s._ _d._| £ _s._ _d._| £ _s._ _d._|
|Australia | 5 19 0 |106 12 0 | 5 13 0 |
|Canada | 1 11 6 | 40 11 2 | 1 10 4 |
|India |144 0 0 | 0 2 9 | 0 2 8 |
|New Zealand | 7 6 0 |107 14 3 | 6 16 0 |
|South Africa| 20 3 7 | 6 15 6 | 5 1 6 |
+------------+------------+------------+------------+
In other words, with the exception of India, where the European
population is not numerous, each white inhabitant in South Africa spends
vastly more in proportion to its population than any of our other
Colonies, or exactly £20, 3s. 7d. per head as against £7, 6s. for
Australia, the next highest, and £1, 11s. 6d. for Canada, the lowest,
or, with black and white combined, £5, 1s. 6d. per head of the total
population, as against 2s. 8d. for India, £1, 10s. 4d. for Canada, £5,
13s. for Australia, and £6, 16s. for New Zealand. A reference to the
above table clearly shows what an important customer the South African
native is for oversea goods, his annual purchases amounting to £6, 15s.
6d., which it will be seen is even more per head than that of the
Australian white population. This latter assumption is, of course,
purely deductive, but it is in the main fairly accurate.
Not only this, but it will surprise many to learn that of the total
British exports to our Colonies and India, South Africa is our third
best market. Moreover, in certain classes of goods, specified below, she
is also far and away our most important customer. For instance, of the
total exports from the United Kingdom to our Colonies and dependencies,
there were shipped in 1901:--
_Boots and Shoes._
To South Africa £881,266
" Australia 223,516
" India 125,256
" New Zealand 105,671
Of these South Africa took one-half of the total British exports.
_Apparel and Slops._
To South Africa £2,198,235
" Australia 1,353,878
" New Zealand 376,582
" Canada 281,100
" India 195,762
Of these South Africa took two-fifths of the total exports.
_Haberdashery and Millinery._
To Australia £341,241
" South Africa 310,372
" India 142,341
" New Zealand 137,080
" Canada 125,401
Of these South Africa took one-fifth of the total exports.
_Mining Machinery._
To Australia £129,704
" South Africa 108,365
" India 74,714
" New Zealand 11,272
South Africa took one-fifth of the total mining machinery exports, but
had 1901 been a normal year, the exports would unquestionably have
exceeded those of all our other Colonies and India combined.
_Agricultural Machinery (excluding Engines)._
To Australia £30,829
" South Africa 26,833
" New Zealand 18,654
" India 14,294
_Manufactures of Steel, &c._
To India £268,377
" South Africa 108,187
" Australia 57,990
" New Zealand 20,189
_Locomotives._
To India £535,115
" Australia 311,616
" South Africa 281,158
" New Zealand 38,712
_Unenumerated Engines._
To India £274,257
" Australia 232,563
" South Africa 128,786
_Cast and Wrought Iron._
To India £848,857
" Australia 746,155
" South Africa 599,018
" New Zealand 202,451
" Canada 53,212
_Galvanized Sheets._
To Australia £730,952
" India 586,023
" South Africa 358,353
" New Zealand 125,828
" Canada 113,015
This brief digest will doubtless be sufficient to prove that South
Africa, as a market, is to-day one of the best customers of the
Motherland, and, as will be shown later, when dealing with the future
outlook for Imperial trade with that country, bids fair to speedily
overtop in her demands upon the United Kingdom and her Colonies and
dependencies that of any single member of the Imperial family, India--of
all our possessions at present our best customer--not even excepted. And
what will readily be conceded is a satisfactory feature in our
commercial relations with South Africa is the remarkable growth which
has characterised the exports thither from British possessions and
Protectorates other than the Mother Country itself, the total proportion
in 1901 being £4,733,800, as against £4,590,681, the value of the
combined trade with South Africa in that year of Austria, Belgium,
Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, and the United States.
Why South Africa must, for many years to come, remain our best customer,
ever increasing its demands upon our industries, is not difficult of
comprehension to those who are acquainted with its circumstances.
Although it is more than capable in proper hands and with the assistance
of capital of being self-supporting, beyond its gold, diamonds, and
coal, it produces little or nothing to speak of. It has one of the
finest climates in the world; its soil is more than ordinarily fertile,
and only requires water to yield a harvest more than sufficient for its
consumptive needs, which could easily be obtained if the ample rainfall
were properly conserved and irrigation resorted to on an intelligent
principle. Incredible as it may seem, even the mealies or maize, which
it could grow in sufficient quantity, without recourse to irrigation, to
supply its own wants and leave a margin for export, are imported to the
amount of something like £350,000 annually. Its iron deposits are
probably unequalled elsewhere; its seas teem with fish, and its orchards
and vineyards groan with the yield which nature lavishes with but little
assistance from man. Yet on the shelves of every store throughout the
country will be found imported canned fish and fruit, mainly from
America; and while it is true that here and there jam factories are to
be found, and the sugar cane grows almost wild in Natal, probably more
than half a million yearly is disbursed on imported jams, confectionery,
syrups, and the like. Tea likewise flourishes in Natal, but South Africa
imports nearly £200,000 worth yearly; fresh and preserved vegetables, to
its shame, are actually landed to the value of £80,000 annually,
although, like most other foodstuffs, the soil grows them in luxuriant
profusion; and of wine, despite the fact that the huge quantities made
at the Cape, if properly treated according to European methods, would be
unsurpassed in the world, the oversea product stands for nearly
£300,000.
Moreover, as a cattle country many parts of South Africa are probably
unrivalled, notwithstanding which both live and dead stock are freely
imported, and while it could support millions of sheep it prefers the
frozen mutton of New Zealand and the Argentine. Whoever is to blame for
this state of things, which, happily, under the new _regime_ and with
the influx of population from European countries will gradually be
altered, it is certain that, until the old order changes (and this will
probably be a work of decades), South Africa must rely upon oversea
goods for the maintenance of its growing population, as also for the
means wherewith to extract its marvellous mineral wealth. According to
Mr. W. Willcocks, C.M.G., if the irrigation schemes which are projected
in the Transvaal and Orange River Colonies are ever carried into effect,
they will add something like £200,000,000 to the value of the
agricultural land, a consummation which, in its own interests as well as
for our own industries, is devoutly to be wished. If it be true, as is
repeatedly asserted by those most competent to judge, that South
Africa's vast mineral deposits have only been "scratched," how much more
does this remark apply to its agriculture, which, after all, is the
staple wealth of all countries, and which has made the United States and
Canada what they are to-day?
Enough has probably been said of the South African trade of the past and
present, although the subject is of such profound interest to the
student that it deserves greater space than is possible within the scope
of a single article. It is to the future that we have now to direct our
attention, and it is in attempting to forecast the probable trend of the
trade in the years to come that speculation becomes positively
fascinating. In making this endeavour, it is well to bear in mind that
assumption will be based upon such facts as are within our common
knowledge, and therefore may be accepted as a reliable, although not
infallible, guide as to what may safely be expected of South African
commerce in the future. Setting aside for the moment the possibility of
the soil being made to yield any greater abundance than is now the case,
or that other than its existing insignificant industries will be
promoted or developed, we will first of all confine our investigations
to how far South Africa's mineral wealth will beneficially affect trade
pure and simple. Altogether, irrespective of the Cape, Natal, Rhodesia,
and the Orange River Colony, the mining, exploration, and investment
companies at present in existence in the Transvaal alone, or connected
therewith, number something like 350, representing a capital of
£250,000,000, or about what the war has cost us. Many attempts have been
made by competent experts in the past to forecast what the several
sections of the Witwatersrand only will yield in gold as interest on
this huge sum before the mines at present in working or in process of
being worked are exhausted, but few approximate with such exactitude the
recent estimates of Messrs. Frederick H. Hatch and T. H. Leggett, both
of whom are authorities whose views are entitled to the greatest
respect. They have had many years' practical experience of the Transvaal
mines, and owing to the uniformity of the yield, tested at a depth of
nearly 5000 feet, to which they limit themselves in their calculations,
they are of opinion that the gold yet to be extracted from Randfontein
on the west to Modderfontein on the east amounts to the almost
incalculable total of £1,310,323,000, and that the life of this section
is forty-two and a half years.
Now, as it is indisputable that South African trade is in the main
practically dependent upon the country's mineral wealth, it is not a
matter of supreme difficulty to arrive at some definite conclusion as to
what effect the extraction of this stupendous amount will have upon its
consumptive requirements. Herein lies its supreme significance to
manufacturers, and particularly to those who are our countrymen. The
experts cited are of opinion that by June 1906 the annual output of gold
from this section alone will amount to £30,000,000, which compares with
£20,000,000, the estimated yield for 1899, had not the war intervened.
According to figures taken from the reports issued by the Johannesburg
Chamber of Mines, something like 75 per cent. of the yearly output of
but seventy-four of the mining companies producing the £20,000,000
referred to has been spent in the past on machinery, stores,
development, labour, &c., which would mean a local disbursement alone of
£22,500,000 in 1906 to win the £30,000,000 estimated as the yield in
that year by Messrs. Hatch and Leggett. But, according to Mr. A. R.
Goldring, secretary to the Johannesburg Chamber of Mines, who bases his
data upon information supplied by the leading Rand engineering experts,
in 1907 no fewer than 17,000 head of stamps will be at work, being an
increase of 11,000 on the number in operation just previous to the
outbreak of the war. If the annual output of £20,000,000 involved the
expenditure of £15,000,000 on stores, machinery, wages, &c., Mr.
Goldring's estimate of the number of stamps that will be at work in 1907
means the disbursement of the gigantic sum of £42,500,000 as the total
contribution which the Rand gold industry alone will expend for the
benefit of the merchants and manufacturers of the Mother Country and the
world at large. If to this estimate be added the expenditure
necessitated by the numerous diamond and copper mines and collieries in
the Cape Colony, Orange River Colony, Natal, and the Transvaal, coupled
with that of the Rhodesian gold mines and collieries, as well as the
gold mines in districts other than the Witwatersrand, such as Barberton
and Zoutpansberg, &c., a reasonable estimate should place the total
disbursements of the entire mining industry in South Africa in, say,
five years at £50,000,000 sterling, which, added to the normal
requirements of the country apart from those of mining, would mean an
annual outlay of at least £60,000,000 for the benefit of commerce.
It will be seen that no allowance is here made for possible developments
in agriculture and kindred pursuits, which may not unreasonably be
expected to ensue as the result of the fostering care of the
administrations, under the Imperial Government, of the Transvaal and
Orange River Colonies, although large disbursements might with perfect
safety be placed to the credit of these and other industries which may
safely be assumed to be promoted during the interval between the present
and the year to which these estimates relate. That the Rand gold
industry can never be checked again, short of another war, which is
extremely improbable, is as certain as that the sun shines, and the same
remark applies to the other mineral propositions. It is therefore well
within the bounds of probability to predict that the total purchasing
capacity of South Africa five years hence will be at least £60,000,000
sterling per annum (which is an exceedingly moderate computation in view
of the fact that the estimated total in 1902 is £42,000,000), a sum
which, assuming our other colonies and possessions do not advance in the
same ratio, will make that country an easy first as Great Britain's best
market. If Messrs. Hatch and Leggett be correct in their surmise that
the life of the Rand is forty-two and a half years--and in the main they
are supported by other competent authorities--excluding altogether the
possibility of other discoveries of precious metals and minerals in that
long interval, and eliminating for the moment, what is improbable, that
the remainder of the three hundred and fifty mining and exploration
companies above referred to remain idle meantime, or that their number
is not hugely increased, we arrive at a total expenditure of _two
thousand five hundred and fifty millions sterling_ as South Africa's
contribution to trade in the period in question. As it would be futile
to dilate upon what this overwhelming sum means to British industries,
it must be left to the imagination. It is worth thinking about
nevertheless.
There is, however, always the pessimist to be considered in these
matters. While no doubt he will content himself with the satisfactory
outlook for British trade which is here unfolded, he may, in
anticipation of time, begin to worry himself as to what will happen when
the Rand is no more, and when its thousands of stamps are lying idle for
the want of further quartz to crush. If one cared or dared to venture
upon the hazardous ground of prophecy, one might easily foretell the
possibility of other Rands being discovered meanwhile, with the
practical certainty that a hundred years hence South Africa's gold
yield, instead of showing diminution, will largely exceed even present
anticipations; and here it is justifiable to intrude the remark that
every expert, without exception, who is connected with its gold
industry, is unanimous in asserting that mining has hardly been begun,
and that the future will exceed the expectations of even the most
optimistically inclined. But, granted that the pessimist be correct that
in fifty years the gold will cease to yield and the Rand be a barren,
silent waste, is it quite safe to conclude that meanwhile the country
has remained at a standstill except for its mining activities? Are the
£200,000,000 sterling which Mr. W. Willcocks, C.M.G., the distinguished
irrigation expert, asserts will add to the value of the country as
agricultural land if irrigation be resorted to, to be counted as
nothing; and is there not the remote possibility of South Africa taking
its natural place among the world's producers of other staples than
gold? What of its vast coal and iron deposits, its saltpetre, its
petroleum, and its countless other products which to-day are but waiting
the advent of capital to bring into being, all of which, like its gold,
have yet to astonish the world? Gold or no gold, the country must, as
the years unfold, become a teeming hive of industry, the only
approximation to which is that of the United States of America. South
Africa, then, is no place for the pessimist, and the sooner that is
understood, the greater the peace of mind of that misguided individual.
As to the trend of the gigantic trade that is before South Africa, it
has been incontestably shown that the proportion enjoyed by the Mother
Country, and that of its colonies and possessions, is immeasurably in
advance of that of all other nations combined, despite the ravings of
the alarmists as to the alleged incursions of our rivals on what are
pre-eminently our own domains. This fact must not, however, lull us into
the false security of our peaceful slumbers of twenty, or even ten,
years ago, when we had the field to ourselves, and which we might have
retained even now but for our ignorance of its potentialities. The
competition to be faced is a keen one; the trade is there and must
remain there, in all human probability, for all time, in increasing
quantity--for it can never retrograde; and only the alertness, the
unceasing activity of those who are interested in retaining it, will
preserve the major portion to our own industries. In endeavouring to
show that the future outlook for South African trade is one which our
manufacturers cannot possibly ignore, by reason of its incalculable
vastness, it is reasonable to suppose that each member of the Imperial
family, whether it be the Mother Country, its offsprings, or the
humblest citizen of either, will strain every nerve to conserve to it
the spoils for which such sacrifices in blood and treasure have been
made, thus handing down to our children a heritage of wealth which is
their right equally as it is our duty.
[Illustration: Photo: Russell. London.
THE COLONIAL CONFERENCE.
The names, reading from left to right, are: Back row--Sir Alfred
Bateman, Sir Francis Hopwood, Hon. W. S. Fielding. Sir M. Ommanney.
Middle row--Mr W. Holderness, Sir J. Anderson, Sir J. Forrest, Sir W.
Mulock, Lord Onslow, Hon. W. Patterson, Rear-Admiral Custance, Lord
Selborne, Mr Gerald Balfour. Front row--Sir Robert Bond, Mr R. J.
Seddon, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Mr Chamberlain, Sir Edmund Barton, Sir A.
Hime, Mr Fuller.]
Much might be written in confutation of the many alarmist reports as to
the decadent condition into which British trade has fallen of late
years, but, after all, is this worth while? Admitted that, inflated with
our past prosperity, we have slumbered on undisturbed by the thought of
what the to-morrow will bring, it would need greater imagination than
the prospective garnering of the two thousand five hundred millions
sterling which it has been shown is likely to fall into the lap of the
world's traders as the result of the future expansion of South Africa in
less than fifty years, to suppose that our manufacturers have
suddenly become bereft of their senses not to seize the most of their
opportunities. It is easy to decry their enterprise, to compare their
alleged shortcomings with the activities and the asserted "pushful"
tendencies of their competitors--thus advertising the latter at their
expense--but how much of foundation is there in such reports? The brief
statistics with which this article is accompanied--and they have been
confined to the narrowest possible limits--conclusively show that, so
far as South African trade is concerned, British manufacturers are more
than holding their own; and there cannot be the least doubt that they
will continue to do so in the years of prosperity and expansion that are
before the sub-continent, provided they are assisted by the ungrudging
efforts of labour. This is a matter which need not be intruded here, but
it is one upon which the maintenance of our supremacy in the world's
markets will depend, and it is one, too, which could be more profitably
discussed by those whose apparent mission is to belittle everything that
is British in favour of those who, in South Africa as elsewhere, are
striving to wrest our commerce from us. As has been shown, the future
outlook for trade in that country is of the brightest, and that we shall
not prove equal to the task of maintaining our position there is a
contemplation that does not come within the scope of probability.
THE FUTURE OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONSTABULARY
VIEWS OF MAJOR-GENERAL BADEN-POWELL
Believing that a short account of the origin and object of the force
known as the South African Constabulary for the Orange River and
Transvaal would be interesting to those anxious for the prosperity of
the new Colonies, General Baden-Powell, the originator of the
highly-practical scheme, was invited to contribute to this volume a
brief _resumé_ of his important work. The General in his reply said, "I
am very sorry that it is quite impossible for me, under present pressure
of work, to contribute an article;" but he kindly furnished an outline
of his scheme, which serves to enlighten home-staying people regarding
the importance of this irregular arm of the British service.
In brief the General writes:--
"I can only say of the South African Constabulary that it is
not formed on lines exactly identical with any other Police
Force, although in many respects similar to some.
"A Military Mounted Police is a bugbear to most administrators,
as being an expensive luxury; but I think that it is rather
like what a steam-engine is to a Boer farmer--once he knows how
to apply it to the many uses of which it is capable,
independent of what has been the practice of his
predecessors--it will be found to be an economy in place of a
luxury.
"I have schemed the South African Constabulary to that end,
viz., as the machinery for performing many duties not hitherto
included in the province of Police; and my one hope is that it
may be found effective for the purpose.
"It is the best paid force of its kind, and by careful
selection and elimination I expect it to be the best in
quality.
"It numbers at present 10,000 whites and 1000 natives, but
these numbers will be liable to alterations as the country
progresses.
"It is divided into four separate self-contained Divisions
carrying out the duties of District and Town Police in the
Transvaal and Orange River Colony, together with their
subordinate departments of Criminal Investigation and
Intelligence, and many minor and temporary duties, such as
medical, agricultural, and veterinary, postal and customs,
sanitary, public works, &c. &c.
"With a good Reserve, as the Force will shortly have, of men
settled in the country in civil situations, and with its
married establishment of 600 families, the South African
Constabulary will also take an important share in the
development of the Colony, and will at the same time be in a
position to supply a well-trained mounted force for military
work should emergency arise."
This force has been formed for the maintenance of order and public
security in the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal, but is available
for service in any part of British South Africa. It acts as a District
Mounted Police in time of peace, and as a military force in time of war.
At one period drafts of about 80 men per month were despatched from
Great Britain and Ireland, but now, owing to the cessation of the war,
recruiting is closed. From time to time new blood may yet be in demand.
Candidates had to be good readers, writers, spellers, riders, and shots.
Single men were preferred, and recommendations, particularly as to
sobriety, had to be forthcoming. The term of engagement was for three
years for those recruited in the British Isles, with the possibility,
for non-commissioned officers and men, of re-engaging on increased pay.
The term of service for men enlisted in South Africa (who had not been
given a passage) was two years. Promotion by merit and commissions are
obtainable from the ranks. The age of candidates is not under 20 nor
over 35. The standard of height, without boots, is not over 6 ft. 2 ins.
nor under 5 ft. 4 ins. The chest measurement, deflated, is not under 34
inches, and the weight, without clothes, is not over 13 stone 7 lbs. nor
under 9 stone.
The following is the scale of pay:--
_s._ _d._
Sergeant (Staff-Sergeant) 10 0 per diem.
Sergeant 9 0 "
Second Class Sergeant 8 0 "
Corporal 7 6 "
First Class Trooper 7 0 "
Second Class Trooper 6 0 "
Third Class Trooper 5 0 "
Pay commenced from date of attestation in South Africa.
Pay, as well as promotion, is largely in accordance with a
man's efficiency and behaviour, troopers being divided into
three classes, and non-commissioned officers into four, for
this purpose. Promotion from one class to another among
troopers depends on their qualifying in Constabulary duties,
musketry, signalling, language, and other tests, and on their
continuing efficient in these subjects. Men of all grades
entered at the lowest pay of their grade. Men selected in Great
Britain and Ireland joined as third-class troopers. Promotion
in the non-commissioned officers' ranks will generally only be
granted to those who qualify in colloquial Dutch. Men desirous
of marrying while in the South African Constabulary need to
obtain the sanction of the Officer Commanding Division to their
doing so, they are then entitled to an allowance to cover
lodging and other expenses, such as rations, fuel, light, &c.,
at the consolidated rate of 3s. a day. On completion of the
first three years' service a man may, if approved by the
Officer Commanding Division, re-engage for a further term of
two years, at 3d. a day extra. On completion of his five years
he may re-engage for further service by the year, if the
Officer Commanding Division approves, at 6d. a day for every
additional year, until the total increase of pay for
re-engagement shall have reached 2s. per diem. Rations, horse,
forage, clothing, equipment, arms, quarters, and medical
attendance are supplied free. In exceptional circumstances,
where rations cannot be supplied, a ration allowance will be
made of 2s. per diem.
A non-commissioned officer or man may be discharged at any time
by order of the Officer Commanding Division with or without
gratuity. Discharge may be purchased, with consent of Officer
Commanding Division, for £20 during first year, £15 during
second year, and £10 during third year.
Any Non-commissioned Officer or Trooper may, with the approval
of his Commanding Officer, be transferred to the Reserve,
provided that there is a vacancy for him, at the end of his
first engagement (three years), or if he re-engages, at the end
of any period of re-engagement, up to the completion of five
years from his first entry into the service. Every man
transferred to the Reserve is required to remain in it and have
his permanent residence in the Orange River Colony or the
Transvaal, unless discharged, up to the end of seven years from
the date of his first entry into the service. A man wishing to
purchase his discharge from the Reserve may do so on payment of
£12 at any period of his service in the Reserve. He will
receive while in the Reserve pay at the rate of £1 per month.
He will be liable to be called out annually for not more than
ten consecutive days for training, and shall also be liable to
be called out for active service at any time by the
proclamation of the administrator, governor, or other person
exercising for the time being supreme authority in the
Transvaal or Orange River Colony, declaring the existence of a
state of war, or of such serious menace to the peace as to
render mobilisation necessary. While on training or on active
service he will receive full pay at the same rate which he was
enjoying when transferred to the Reserve. In addition to their
pay, Reservists, if they desire to settle on the land, will
receive special consideration in any Government-aided scheme of
settlement.
Proposals are at present under consideration, whereby suitable
settlers may be assisted to acquire land, and be aided at
starting by Government advances, the purchase price and capital
advanced being repayable on easy terms. If any plan of this
kind is found to be practicable, a certain number of farms
annually will be offered in the first instance to members of
the South African Constabulary, who, having borne a good
character, may be desirous of being transferred to the Reserve
with a view to actually settling on the land as farmers.
Similar privileges will, if the opportunity offers, be extended
to Non-commissioned Officers and men who may quit the South
African Constabulary after five or more years' continuous
service, bearing a good character.
Any man having served at least five years continuously in the
South African Constabulary (not including Reserve service) with
a good character will be entitled, on retiring, to a gratuity
of one month's pay for every year of service. Men on the
Reserve may, with approval of Officer Commanding Division, be
taken on to full pay again at any time for a term of two years
at 3d. a day extra pay.
Where a number of men joined from one place they were squadded
together as far as possible in the South African Constabulary.
Leave of absence will where possible be granted to all ranks
for one month in each year, cumulative, on full pay, special
conditions ruling shooting leave, and leave to England or out
of South Africa. After four years without leave six months on
full pay will be granted.
Candidates were given a free passage in a transport to South
Africa, and a free railway voucher from their place of
residence to the port of embarkation. They were liable to
further medical examination on arrival at the place of
attestation. Any candidate found unsuitable was given a free
passage back to England, provided that he was not rejected for
any misrepresentation, misconduct, or serious fault of his own.
After five years' total service a free third-class passage home
will be granted to men recruited in the United Kingdom.
The full strength of the Constabulary will in future be six
thousand men: the four thousand enrolled for the war
contingency will shortly be disbanded.
These particulars serve to show the nature of the new Force,
and give some idea of its value in preserving the future peace
of the King's new dominions.
APPENDIX
MR. CHAMBERLAIN AND THE BOER GENERALS
Soon after the conclusion of the war Generals Botha, De Wet, and
Delarey, in the hope of making favourable arrangements with the
Government on behalf of their fellow-countrymen, sailed for England.
They were greeted by the British people with unusual cordiality, not
because of any sympathy with the Republics they came to represent, but
because it is a characteristic of the British people to honour brave
men, even when they are defeated foes. General Botha was received by Mr.
Chamberlain, and the Boer future was discussed. A few days later the
public was startled to read in the daily journals the following
manifesto entitled, "Appeal of the Boer Generals to the Civilised
World."
"It is still fresh in the memory of the world how the Boers,
after a terrible struggle lasting more than two and a half
years, were at last obliged to accept through their
representatives at Vereeniging the terms of peace submitted to
them by the Government of King Edward VII. At the same time the
representatives commissioned us to proceed to England in order,
in the first place, to appeal to the new Government to allay
the immense distress everywhere devastating the new colonies.
If we did not succeed we were to appeal to the humanity of the
civilised world for charitable contributions. As we have not
succeeded up to the present in inducing the British Government
to grant further assistance to our people in their
indescribable distress, it only remains for us to address
ourselves to the peoples of Europe and America.
"During the critical days through which we have passed it was
sweet for us and ours to receive constant marks of sympathy
from all countries. The financial and other assistance given to
our women and children in the concentration camps, and to the
prisoners of war in all parts of the earth contributed
infinitely to mitigate the lot of those poor sufferers, and we
take advantage of this opportunity to express in the name of
the people of the late Republics our fervent thanks to all
those who have charitably assisted us in the past. The small
Boer nation can never forget the help it received in its dark
hours of suffering.
"The people of the Republics were ready to sacrifice everything
for their independence, and now the struggle is over and our
people are completely ruined. Though we have not had the
opportunity of drawing up an exact inventory of the destruction
done, we have the conviction, based on personal experience,
that at least thirty thousand houses on Boer farms and a number
of villages were burnt or destroyed by the British during the
war. Our homes with their furniture were burned or destroyed,
our orchards were ruined, all our agricultural implements
broken, our mills were destroyed, every living animal was
carried off or killed. Nothing, alas, remained to us. The
country is laid waste. The war demanded many victims, and the
land was bathed in tears. Our orphans and widows have been
abandoned. Besides, it is needless to recall the fact how much
will be needed in the future for the education of the children
of the Burghers, who are in great distress.
"We address ourselves to the world, with the prayer to help us
by charitable contributions for our widows and orphans, for the
maimed and other needy ones, and for the satisfactory education
of our children. We allude to the terrible results of the war
in order to bring to the knowledge of the world our urgent
needs, by no means to inflame people's minds. The sword is now
sheathed, and all differences are silent in presence of such
great misery. The ruin caused by the war is indescribable, so
that the small amount which Great Britain is to give us, in
accordance with the terms of surrender, even were it multiplied
tenfold, would be wholly insufficient even to cover the war
losses alone. The widows, orphans, maimed, needy, and children,
on whose behalf alone we appeal, will receive little of this
sum, and in most cases nothing.
"All contributions will be assigned to a fund to be called
'General Fund of Help for the Boers,' which will be devoted
solely to supplying the wants of those for whom we are
collecting, and to provide for their future. We solicit the
hearty co-operation of the committees existing in the various
countries of Europe and in America. We are now on the point of
visiting these countries in succession with the object of
establishing a satisfactory organisation.
"BOTHA.
"DE WET.
"DELAREY."
The lamentable representations of this manifesto naturally caused a
profound impression--and the effect of them was not removed till late in
the year when Mr. Chamberlain's correspondence in relation to the matter
was published. This correspondence merits more than superficial study by
those truly interested in the pacification of the new Colonies, for the
evil done by the pronouncements of the Boer "appeal" will live after
them, while the good effected by the tardy publication of the Colonial
Secretary's refutation will probably be interred in the official
mausoleum. To this end the opening despatch from Mr. Chamberlain to
General Louis Botha, dated Downing Street, the 6th of November, is here
appended:--
"Since the interview which you had with me at this office on
the 5th of September an 'Appeal of the Boer Generals to the
Civilised World' has been issued, many of the statements in
which have, according to Press reports, been repeated and
enlarged on in the speeches delivered by yourself and General
Delarey and General De Wet during your tour on the Continent.
"The appeal, I regret to say, appears to me to convey an
incorrect and exaggerated impression of the circumstances to
which it refers, and though I have no desire at this time to
enter into controversy, I cannot allow it to pass altogether in
silence.
"In the first place I am at a loss to understand why the appeal
should open with a statement that you have not up to the
present succeeded in inducing the British Government to grant
further assistance to your people. It is not, indeed, the
intention of his Majesty's Government to ask Parliament to
authorise any addition to the free grant of £3,000,000--a grant
which is itself without any precedent in the history of the
world--but the promise of further assistance by way of loan on
very easy terms, as provided by Article 10 of the Terms of
Surrender, has never been withdrawn; and I think you will
agree, on again consulting the record of our conversation, that
there is nothing in the language which I then used which
indicates any intention on the part of his Majesty's Government
to withdraw it.
"Further, the expenditure on the Burgher camps which, since the
conclusion of peace, have to a great extent been transformed
into organisations for enabling the people to return to their
homes, and the cost of which has been about £200,000 a month,
is being borne by his Majesty's Government, and constitutes in
effect a very considerable addition to the free grant.
"The cost of the camps since their establishment has exceeded
£3,000,000, and there is no room for reasonable doubt that they
have been the means of preserving the lives of thousands of
women and children, and of providing the latter with a better
education than they ever had the opportunity of enjoying
before.
"I observe that in an article signed by you in this month's
_Contemporary Review_ you make it a complaint that the
concentration camps are still being maintained.
"It must be self-evident that, on the score of expense alone,
it is the interest of his Majesty's Government to abolish these
camps at the earliest possible moment, and it is only in the
cause of humanity that they continue to maintain this costly
organisation.
"If they were to accept the inferences to be drawn from your
statement they would turn out into the veldt thousands of men,
women, and children whom it has been impossible to return to
their farms immediately on the termination of the war, owing to
the absence of sufficient transport and the scarcity of stock.
"They have, however, already provided for the return of large
numbers of the population of the camps which had been reduced
from 116,000 at end of May to about 34,000 in the last week of
October.
"I observe that you are reported in the Press to have suggested
in a speech at Paris that the British military authorities
deliberately used the sufferings of women and children to
induce their relatives in the field to lay down their arms, and
in the resolution passed at Vereeniging on the 31st of May the
sufferings of the women and children were given as a reason for
surrender.
"No one deplores more than the British Government the high
mortality in the camps during the epidemic of measles and
pneumonia, but nothing was spared that money or science could
afford to reduce it, and for the last six months the average
total death-rate in the camps has been about 21 per 1000 per
annum, a rate which must be much lower than any which obtained
before the war in normal conditions.
"It is, therefore, clear from the statistics that at the actual
time of the surrender there could have been no cause for
anxiety as to the condition of the women and children then in
the British camps; and in confirmation of this view I may
remind you that neither at the time of your conferences with
Lord Kitchener in February 1901 nor in the discussions which
preceded the acceptance of the Terms of Surrender was any
request made for special provision for widows and orphans.
"On the contrary, the request made on both these occasions was
that the sums offered as a free grant by the British Government
should be applied to the payment of notes and receipts for
goods requisitioned by the Boer commandoes, in many cases from
persons of considerable means. To this proposal his Majesty's
Government objected, and while willing that these notes and
receipts should be accepted as evidence of war losses, they
stipulated that the grant should be applied for the benefit of
the destitute, or, in the words of the Terms of Surrender, 'for
the purpose of assisting the restoration of the people to their
homes and supplying those who, owing to war losses, are unable
to provide themselves with food, shelter, and the necessary
amount of seed, stock, implements, &c., indispensable to the
resumption of their normal occupation.' As at present advised,
I believe that the sum allotted will be amply sufficient for
the purpose; but, should more be required, there is one source
from which a substantial addition may be fairly expected.
"His Majesty's Government are aware that large sums were
remitted from the Transvaal to Europe during the war to be
expended in the interests of the South African Republic.
"They have no desire to question the expenditure of this money
so far as it was legitimately devoted to the purposes for which
it was intended, but they cannot doubt that a large balance
still remains which would properly come to them as the
successors of the late South African Republic, and which they
would be prepared to add to the fund provided for the relief of
the distressed burghers and their families. I venture to think
that in this matter your wishes will coincide with mine, and
that you will give me any assistance in your power to discover
the persons to whom the money was entrusted, and to obtain from
them a statement of account showing the expenditure and the
amount of the balance which remains over.
"I may add, with regard to the camps, that the reference in the
manifesto to the pecuniary assistance furnished by foreign
sympathisers appears to rest on a misconception. It consisted
in the Transvaal of 2646 bales and packages, chiefly containing
clothing and miscellaneous stores, which were brought up from
the coast at military expense, and in the sum of £562, 2s. 2d.
received and distributed through the Burgher Relief Fund. I
have not yet received exact information as to the money
contributions to the camps in Orange River Colony, but it was
on a similar scale, and provides no ground whatever for an
unfavourable contrast with British liberality.
"On the general question of your appeal for help for the widows
and orphans, the maimed and the needy, and for assistance in
the education of the children, I desire to say that the
Colonial Government is making itself entirely responsible for
the maintenance of all destitute orphans, including their food,
clothing, supervision, and education. Large orphanages are
already in existence at Irene in the Transvaal, and Brandfort
and Springfontein in the Orange River Colony; and suitable
provision is also being made for widows.
"The Government have been, and are, making themselves
responsible for the education of the children. In the last year
of the war £100,000 was spent on education in the Transvaal,
and £32,500 in the Orange River Colony. At the date of the
signing of peace the number of children in Government schools
in the Transvaal was 28,000, and in the Orange River Colony
14,500. As a contrast to these figures it may be mentioned
that under the late Governments the total number of children
being educated never exceeded 15,000 and 9000, in the South
African Republic and Orange Free State respectively.
"With regard to your statements as to the desolation caused by
the war, I would point out that it was inevitable that much
damage should be caused in consequence of the prolongation of
hostilities long after there had ceased to be any reasonable
doubt as to the issue of the war. Though the principal centres,
such as Bloemfontein, Kroonstad, Winburg, Heilbron, Harrismith,
Bethlehem, Ficksburg, Ladybrand, Thaba N'chu, Bethulie,
Fauresmith, Jagersfontein, Koffyfontein, Boshof, in the Orange
River Colony, and Johannesburg, Pretoria, Potchefstroom,
Klerksdorp, Heidelberg, Standerton, Middelburg, Lydenburg,
Pietersburg, Nylstroom, Lichtenburg, Zeerust, Rustenburg, in
the Transvaal, are practically untouched, it is no doubt the
case that a large number of farmhouses and buildings have been
damaged or destroyed by one or other of the belligerents or by
natives. The value of such buildings in South Africa is,
however, in most instances not very great, and the pecuniary
loss is probably more than compensated by the increased value
of the land. The heaviest loss, and that temporarily pressing
most hardly on the people is, no doubt, the loss of their
stock; but the statement that every living animal was taken
away or killed is a great exaggeration. A recent census taken
in the Orange River Colony shows that, excluding animals
belonging to the military and Repatriation Department, there
are now in the colony over 120,000 head of cattle, 700,000
sheep and goats, and 27,000 horses. Similar figures for the
Transvaal are not yet available, but the local government is
spending very large sums to supply stock in both colonies. The
Repatriation Department in the Transvaal is using 36,000
animals for transport alone. It has already issued some 20,000
head of stock to the farmers, and is in a position to issue
another 35,000 by December 1. Assistance is being given in the
Orange River Colony on a like scale, and ploughs and implements
are being supplied as far as it is possible. So far, indeed,
from being a desert the country will, if rain is abundant, be
extensively cultivated at the end of the year; and it is the
earnest hope of his Majesty's Government that the strenuous
efforts now being made by the local governments, seconded by
the co-operation of the people themselves, will result in
bringing back a degree of prosperity in no way inferior to that
existing before the war."
This despatch satisfactorily disposed of many vexed questions, and
comfortable corroboration of the statements made therein is to be found
within the pages of General De Wet's account of the "Three Years' War."
There, though the General complains of the hardships endured by women
and children, he can offer no suggestion as to how these sufferings
might have been averted. On May 16 General Botha is reported to have
said:--
"Throughout this war the presence of the women has caused me
anxiety and much distress. At first I managed to get them into
the townships, but later on this became impossible because the
English refused to receive them. I then conceived the idea of
getting a few of our burghers to surrender and sending the
women in with them."
On the 29th of May, General De Wet, speaking in favour of continuing the
war, said:--
"I am asked what I mean to do with the women and children. That
is a very difficult question to answer. We must have faith. I
think also we might meet the emergency in this way. A part of
the men should be told off to lay down their arms for the sake
of the women, and then they could take the women with them to
the English in the towns."
Later, General Botha said:--
"When the war began we had plenty of provisions, and a commando
could remain weeks in one spot without the local supply running
out. Our families, too, were then well provided for. But now
all is changed. One is only too thankful nowadays to know that
our wives are under English protection. The question of our
women folk is one of our greatest difficulties. What are we to
do with them? One man answers that some of the burghers should
surrender themselves to the English and take the women with
them."
It is gratifying to note how the horrible charges of barbarity, brought
by persons ignorant of the real state of affairs in South Africa at the
time of the war, are disposed of by this one sentence from the mouth of
General Botha, "One is only too thankful nowadays to know that our wives
are under English protection." We owe General De Wet some gratitude for
his book, bitter as it is, since he makes evident that a main reason for
the surrender of May 31 was to ensure the safety of the women who were
not in the concentration camps, and whom they feared could not be placed
in those positions of security. It is plain that if the Boers could have
charged the British Government with the protection of those women they
would have held out for some time longer. In discussing the question of
the destruction done, we have only again to turn to General De Wet's
history to discover how necessary was the burning of certain farms
which, worked by Kaffirs under the direction of the women, were
provision bases of the Boers; and how imperative too was the shooting of
horses, since, to quote the General himself, the Boer is only half a man
without his horse. Indeed, though De Wet complains of the methods of the
British in carrying on the war, his own narration of his exploits--the
wrecking of trains, the destruction of railways, the burnings of the
veldt, and the stripping of prisoners--offers the "best explanation yet
published of the necessity for the measures of which he complains."
To return to General Botha. In reply to Mr. Chamberlain he wrote from
Horrex's Hotel, Norfolk Street, Strand, on the 12th of November,
stating:--
"... That there were some misunderstandings as to the reasons
which led to the appeal to the world on behalf of their
fellow-countrymen, which he wished to try to remove. In the
first place, however, he sincerely shared Mr. Chamberlain's
desire to avoid controversy, the more so as there were some
assurances in the Colonial Secretary's recent speech--which he
(General Botha) was privileged to hear--of a kind to gratify
all who had the fortunes of his destitute fellow-countrymen at
heart. He wished also to say that he and his colleagues
welcomed Mr. Chamberlain's decision to visit South Africa, and
his determination to see the condition of their country with
his own eyes, and form a first-hand judgment on its needs."
Dealing then with the "misunderstandings" which he wished to remove,
General Botha wrote:--
"We made no secret in accepting the Terms of Surrender that the
compensation or assistance therein promised would be totally
inadequate to enable the Burghers of the late Republics who
remained in the field or were in the prisons and concentration
camps to make a fair start in life again. On the contrary it
was made clear by us that in the absence of further help from
the British Government we would have at once to appeal to the
charity of the civilised world for further help for the widows
and orphans of our Burghers, and for those who had been
rendered unfit for work by wounds or sickness during the
war....
"It was only from your speech of November 5th that we learnt
that the grant was intended entirely for all who are destitute,
or who cannot make a fresh start in life without help. We
always understood that the £3,000,000 were to be given in
partial compensation for war losses, and that that was also
understood by Lord Milner is clear from his despatch of June
11th (published in Blue Book, Cd. 1163, page 141), in which he
expresses his intention of distributing it _pro rata_ to those
who can prove losses through the war.
"It therefore appeared to us that the free grant made no
general provision for widows, orphans, and the destitute except
in so far as they could prove war losses, and we distinctly
gathered from your remarks that you could do no more for them.
Under these circumstances we issued our appeal. We were, I need
not say, highly gratified to learn from your recent speech that
the Government would undertake a fuller responsibility for
those needing their help, and particularly for the information
that if more money than has been voted should be needed, the
loan would be increased accordingly. We feel sure that it will
ultimately be found that the £3,000,000 already assigned will
by no means suffice to meet what is required as a free gift.
Meanwhile, the needs of the sufferers are pressing, and we are
glad to think that the sums which, through the generosity of
the public, we have been able to collect, will to some extent
minister to them without any delay, while they will also
supplement what is being done by the Government.
"In regard to the loan, the provision lately made and the
promise that the amount would be augmented if necessary came as
a great relief after the months of waiting and suspense, when
we were continually being told of those who, from lack of
timely assistance, were compelled to part with their property
to meet the urgent wants of themselves and their families. Some
further and more detailed information as to the terms and
conditions under which loans will be obtainable would be
gratefully welcomed by the people interested.
"With regard to your reference to the free grant of three
millions as something 'without any precedent in the history of
the world,' I wish to say nothing that can excite or prolong
controversy. You must only allow me to remark that the whole
circumstances are unprecedented; that the gift of £3,000,000
was one of the conditions upon which the burghers laid down
their arms; and that our view is, that having taken the assets
of our Governments, you may fairly be expected to meet their
liabilities, not in part, but in full.
"In regard to the large sums of money alleged by you to remain
unexpended in Europe out of sums remitted by the Transvaal to
Europe during the war, I can only assure you that I have no
knowledge of any such remittances, and should be surprised to
find that any were made. There is no sum of money belonging to
the late Government known to me over which I have any authority
whatever. I can only say that should any such sums exist I
personally should be very glad to see them devoted to the
objects mentioned."
Passing to the subject of the concentration camps, General Botha said it
was not his intention in the references he had made to them to suggest
that they ought to be broken up before the people could be brought back
to their farms. He proceeded:--
"We recognise that towards the close of the war improvements
were introduced into them, in consequence of which the
death-rate fell to an ordinary figure; but we do not know on
what grounds you asserted that a death-rate of 21 per 1000 was
lower than that which obtained before the war in normal
conditions, and we are not prepared to agree that that was the
case. My remark at Paris about the sufferings of the women and
children had reference more particularly to those remaining
outside the camps, who had their dwellings, with the furniture,
food, and all that they contained, burnt or destroyed by
British troops; their herds killed or removed, and themselves
left destitute on the veldt. These were certainly sufferings,
and they did carry great weight with us, among other reasons,
in inducing us to surrender."
While admitting that the Government was making great efforts to carry on
the work of education in the camps, General Botha said he could not help
sharing with his colleagues many objections to the large orphanages
which had been referred to. He also wished to point out with reference
to the pecuniary and other assistance given to the Boers in their
misfortunes by "foreign" sympathisers, that in cash and in kind they
totalled a value more than a hundredfold what Mr. Chamberlain had been
led to suppose. On the subject of the desolation caused by the war,
General Botha continued:--
"You are about to proceed to South Africa yourself, and if--as
I have no reason to doubt will be the case--you get some of our
own people to go over the country of the late Republics with
you, you will be able to judge for yourself whether the
description of the ruin and desolation as given by myself and
others of us was--nay, I might almost say, if it could
be--exaggerated.... If your allusion to 'one or other of the
belligerents' is meant to suggest that the destruction of
houses was practised by us you have been misinformed. My orders
were definite that no houses should be destroyed; I know of
only four cases where the orders were contravened, and in those
instances every endeavour was made to trace the perpetrators,
and where known they were promptly punished."
General Botha further stated that he had no definite information
relative to the increase in the selling value of the land, but the
figures quoted showed to any one who knew the country before the war the
fearful loss which had taken place in cattle, sheep, and horses. He
concluded:--
"I regret to have to dwell on these points, and have done so
only to remove misunderstandings as to the grounds for our
appeal for aid. I do not doubt your desire to restore peace and
the elements of prosperity to our unhappy country, and I would
wish that we might so far as possible avoid controversy as to
the past, and address ourselves entirely to the necessities of
the present."
To this letter Mr. Chamberlain replied, on the 15th of November, as
follows:--
"I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of
the 12th of November, in reply to my comments on statements
contained in the 'Appeal of the Boer Generals to the Civilised
World,' and in their speeches on the Continent.
"I appreciate the spirit of the last paragraph of your letter,
and share the wish which you express therein, and in view of my
approaching visit to South Africa I will not prolong the
present correspondence.
"I trust that during my tour I may gain much valuable
information which will assist his Majesty's Government in their
efforts to restore peace and prosperity to the countries which
have suffered by the war."
On the 18th of November, General Botha wrote the following answer:--
"I have to thank you for your letter of 15th instant, and wish
only to say, in reply, that I cordially join in the hope that
your visit to South Africa may be a step towards that
restoration of peace and prosperity to our desolate country,
which I am sure that it is your desire to promote."
[Illustration]
The above map shows the position of the three Powers mainly concerned
with the future of South Africa. The total mileage of German territory
is said to be about 931,460 miles; that of Portuguese territory about
790,240 miles. The British possessions include the following:--
Sq. miles
Basutoland 10,293
Bechuanaland 213,000
Cape Colony 221,311
Central African Protectorate 42,217
East Africa 1,000,000
Zanzibar Protectorate 1,020
Natal 29,200
Nigeria 400,000
Orange River Colony 48,326
Rhodesia, Southern 144,000
Rhodesia, North-Eastern 120,000
Somaliland 68,000
Transvaal 119,139
Swaziland 8,500
Gold Coast 40,000
Lagos 28,910
Gambia 4,500
Sierra Leone 30,000
---------
Total area 2,528,416
These figures are taken from _The Statesman's Year Book_ for 1902. The
areas of Barotseland, Adansi, and Ashanti are not included in the list,
as the figures for these areas are not given.
TRANSCRIBERS' NOTES
General: Variable hyphenation of gold(-)fields, over(-)sea,
food(-)stuffs and break(-)down as in the original text
General: Variable accenting of regime as in the original text
Page 8: millitary corrected to military
Page 10: some corrected to same after "for South Africa generally,"
Page 60: hundered corrected to hundred
Page 64: Winkie standardised to Wankie after "being constructed through
the"
Page 72: comphrehensive corrected to comprehensive
Page 84: intercouse corrected to intercourse
Page 101: The last part of the caption for the illustration of DRIVING
AN "END" IN MAY CONSOLIDATED MINE, JOHANNESBURG is illegible and has
been omitted.
Page 125: Oliphants as in the original text
Page 131: Kafirs as in the original text
Page 147: Candian corrected to Canadian in "The Canadian Pacific
Railway"
Page 150: Machadadorp standardised to Machadodorp after "A line from
Springs to"
Page 154: employées as in the original text
Page 159: Teneriffe as in the original text
Page 162: redwater standardised to red-water
Page 169: toxines as in the original text
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