ECONOMICS OF EAST COAST FEVER, 21/ 



to inerinon the failure of several. Some have said (surely with 

 astoni>hing- ignorance) that the East Coast Fever has been a 

 " blessing" in disguise." If it is a bless'ng for the whole l)anking 

 system. of a territory to be destroyed, then the disguise is really 

 quite ettective! We have already seen the magnitude of the 

 capital loss, but there remain yet further considerations. In 

 order that these may emerge more clearly, let us follow out in 

 fuller detail the banking operations of the native. When 

 money is needed for the purchase of goods, or the payment of 

 debt> it is usual to sell one or more head of cattle. Thus is 

 money withdrawn from " the bank." But the mere suspicion 

 of infection was quite enough to bring upon a district sundry 

 rules and regulations, and sometimes counter-rules and counter- 

 regulati<:>ns. And even before any suspicions at all were 

 aroused, already the district was placed under the general dis- 

 abiliti,t'> which arose of necessity when the Territory was 

 infected. Restrictions upon the moving of cattle paralysed the 

 trans])(irt system, and those who had healthy cattle to sell were 

 not able to move them to places where the\' could secure good 

 prices. Consequently owners were frequently compelled to 

 sell their cattle at ridiculous prices, rather than to keep them 

 and run the risk of losing them at a later stage. Thus the 

 East Coast Fever operated in a double wa};, either to the total 

 destruction, or at least to the great reduction, of the capital. 

 The very ctn-rency of the Territory was subjected to the closest 

 scrutiny, and then the chances Avere against its acceptance, 

 .^uch a condition of affairs could not but produce a great shock 

 to the whole fniancial system of the Transkei. 



We cannot imagine the condition of a country in which 

 the banks had lost all their reserves of money. In a modern 

 community such a shock to security would amount to a 

 catastrophe ; but in primitive society each man seems content 

 to bear his Imrden, hope for the best, and commence at the 

 beginning again, and that without anything like the feelings 

 of los^ that would be experienced in civilised society. 



One thing seems clear in the face of these widespread and 

 most serious losses to the Transkeian community, and that is 

 that in the future we should exercise just as great care to ensure 

 the security of the native " bank " as we take to safeguard our 

 own banks. Not for one moment would we tolerate anything 

 which undermines the securit\- of oin* financial system, and it 

 is a duty which the .^tate owes to itself, and to the individual, 

 to provide adequate safeguards against such serious outbreaks. 

 This i- not the first time that the natives have been denuded 

 of cattle: or, to put it another way, this is not the first occasion 

 on which the State has suffered most seriously from an epidemic 

 of cattle disease. 



Trade, naturally, suft'ered sericjusly. If ])eo])le have no 

 money they cannot spend, and the disposition to give credit is 

 hardly encouraged by the knowledge tliat a man has lost all his 



