PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION E. 1 53 



wild elephant which ahounded in the country, also the cattle. 

 To-day the whole centre of gravity of the native trade has 

 chanjE^ed completely, even in the most backward districts, reflect- 

 ing^ in the character of the p^oods now supplied the individualism 

 which we are tracin.s^. 



As an illustration of this, the report of the Mai>"istrate of 

 Ntabankulu. in Pondoland. so long ago as 1910, may be (juoted : 



The progress of the people is amply evident in trade. Twenty j'ears 

 ago the hoe was the only agricultural implement used, now every kraal 

 possesses its plough. In those days trade was entirely by •.v;!3' of barter, 

 which is now extinct. Astonishing increases in the sale and consumption 

 of tea, coffee, sugar, matches, soap, paraffin and other groceries, as 

 well as in the purchase of clothing and saddles of much higher values, 

 and of such commodities as jugs, basins, and bedsteads (single and 

 double) point to the steady progress going on. The sale of wool in the 

 time referred to has increased tenfold. 



In that same district the number of trading stations increased 

 in twenty years from three to twenty-four. The development of 

 trade is, however, not only evidenced by an enormously increased 

 volume, but also by an improvement in the quality and character 

 of the goods, and the operation of both these factors has much 

 enhanced values all round. One trading station changed hands at 

 £120, sixteen years later it was sold for £900, and four years 

 later (in 1912) it was valued by arbitrators at £2,000. 



These facts as quoted are not to be regarded as wholly excep- 

 tional in character. Everywhere in the Territories one finds the 

 same wonderful advance, and though perhaps one should admit 

 that it is not every trading station that increases in value to the 

 same extent as the i^lace mentioned, yet there is no question that 

 very considerable advances are taking place, advances affecting 

 fully nine-tenths of the stations. 



The staple industries are agriculture and stock-raising, but 

 difficulties of transport, together with the primitive methods of 

 agriculture, militate against the development of either a large 

 internal or export trade, so that, as a matter of fact, barely 

 sufficient is grown to feed the population of the territories. 



In the case of stock-raising, however, considerable sums of 

 money are made available for trade and general circulation. 



Wool and hides bring into the single District of Umtata 

 some £20,000 per annum, so that the value of the exports from 

 the 27 districts must be very great — and practically all the wool 

 and hides pass through the hands of the traders. The fact is 

 that Kaffir trading is still only in its infancy. The system of 

 barter has almost wholly given place to actual money transac- 

 tions, but when the native sells his produce, he very often spends 

 the money received for his goods almost at once. Indeed, he 

 calculates to have just enough from the proceeds to buy what 

 he wants, so that the whole process is not far removed from 

 actual barter, though it is accomplished through the medium of 

 money. The flock.s and herds still constitute in the main the 

 " bank " of the Natives, but the development of wealth in the 



