Chapter IV (5)

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.

Photo by Horace W. Nicholls, Johannesburg]

_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.

_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.

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.

(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."

(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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.