FACTORS IN NATIVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 523 



attacked by large hordes of savages, the brave settlers hastily 

 drew up their wagons to form a laager for the defence of theif 

 women and children. Verily the old Voortrekker's wagon has 

 \\on a worthy place for itself in the coat of arms of the Union of 

 South Africa. 



But more than that, the wagons crossed the trackless veld, 

 and forded many an unbridged river by reason of its high 

 clearance, and the establishment of communities in the interior 

 made roads and bridges necessary, so that faster and lighter 

 wheeled vehicles could be brought into use. As the population 

 and the roads increased, railways automatically became essential, 

 and the network of railways soon controlled the whole of the 

 transport of the country, ousting the transport-driver, except in 

 the remotest districts. It is of no slight interest to observe that in 

 cur Union Ministry the control of Harbours and Railways is in 

 the hands of one Minister, a fact which shows at once the pro- 

 gressive spirit of our constitution, and the essential unity of 

 interest between the ship and the wheel. 



With the railways came an enormous speeding up all round, 

 the development of backward districts, the increase in production, 

 and the growth of exports, and where Robert and Mary Moffat 

 struggled six miles laboriously in their first day from Capetown 

 on their journey to join Livingstone, we are wafted by train 

 some 500 miles in the same space of time. The wheel is still 

 turning, but it is turning at high speed now. 



A third stage is that of the motor-car. The enormous deve- 

 lopment of motor transport which has taken place in the various 

 theatres of war has resulted in the acquirement of much experi- 

 ence in this new department of activity, and there can hardly 

 be any doubt that in many districts the motor lorr>' will come into 

 general use for purposes of transport, competing with the railway 

 and possibly eventually displacing even the railway. What has 

 been done under the most adverse circumstances in German East 

 Africa, not to mention France and Flanders, has not only shown 

 us what can be done in this direction, but also trained a generation 

 of men capable of undertaking the work when in the days of 

 peace our commercial relationships demand the projected exten- 

 sions. Already almost all the dwellers in the country districts 

 have acquired motors to facilitate their movements between farm 

 and town, and it is no uncommon thing to find every doctor, 

 most farmers, many traders, and even the plumber, possessed of 

 a car. Many who ordinarily would not be in a position to buy 

 a car and face the expenses of upkeep are able to do so by running 

 passengers from point to point for a time until their liabilities are 

 covered. In the wal<e of this great extension which has taken 

 place, transforming within a single decade the whole of the condi- 

 tions and communications by reason of the increase of facilities, 

 and the general speeding up, there has followed a great improve- 

 ment in the roads, and incidentally in the wayside hotels ; and 

 it is obvious that in the near future it will be essential to improve 

 at least all the main roads, and to build bridges over the rivers, 

 so as to still further facilitate movement by motor. In some 

 places already special motor roads are constructed, and probably 



