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 backas 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 oldrégimeis shown by the futile results of the Industrial Commission’s labours.
DRIVING AN “END” IN MAY CONSOLIDATED MINE, JOHANNESBURGIn 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, buteven greatly superior. By so much, therefore, is the perspective of the gold yield to which we have made allusion assisted towards becoming a reality.
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 energywhich 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.
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 tobe 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.
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 theRand 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.”
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 inthe 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.
PRITCHARD STREET, JOHANNESBURGPhoto by Horace W. Nicholls, Johannesburg
MAP SHEWING THE RELATIVE POSITIONS OF THE TRANSVAAL GOLD FIELDS.From “South Africa,” by permission.
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 treasureof 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.
A MAP OF THE RHODESIAN GOLD FIELDS.From “South Africa,” by permission.
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.
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
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. Butthere 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.
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 sixmonths 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 settler shall pay the annual rent due by him to the Government in half-yearly instalments, the first of which shall be due sixmonths 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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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 candeal 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 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, andmany 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 servedin 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.
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.