26 president's address. 



transient. The importance of the estabHshnient of an iron and 

 steel industry in South Africa transcends that of every other 

 industry ; South Africa can never hope to liccome a machinery 

 manufacturing' country witht)ut it. We have the raw materials 

 in coal and ore, but markets will liave to be created to kee]j such 

 an industry going continuously, as it must of necessity do. The 

 (xovernment can help by assisting in the initial stages, and it is 

 to be feared that without some direct special assistance, the pro- 

 spects are remote. But it can also help indirectly through the 

 railways. A guarantee of Government contracts, at any rate 

 in the initial stages, should surely induce a flow of cai)ital for 

 such an important national industry. A glance at the imports 

 for 1916 shews that, during that year, iron and steel to the value 

 of nearly one and a (|uarter millions sterling, and machinery to 

 the value of two and one-eighth juillions sterling, were imported 

 into the L'nion. 



How colossal an iron and .steel industry may become is 

 shewn by the fact that the outi)ut of tlie United States Steel Cor- 

 poration reached in uji6 the huge total (-f nearly fifteen and 

 a half million tons. 



.V successful experimental j^laiit, constituting the first elec- 

 tric furnace in South .Africa, was erected by the Chamber of 

 Mines during the past year for making steel castings (shoes and 

 dies) 'from scrap metal, and the manufacture of bar iron, etc., 

 from scrap metal has been carried on for some years in the 

 Transvaal. Such industries have been referred to as " bastard " 

 industries ; primary indu.stries utilising the raw materials are 

 essential. A start was made last month in electro-chemical in- 

 dustries, when a factory for the manufacture of carljide was 

 inaugurated on the Rand ; but electro-chemical industries in other 

 parts of the world rely mainly upon chea]) electricity derived 

 from water power, and it is of the utmost importance in the 

 industrial development of this country that the Government 

 should spare no expense in having- the water-]X)wer resources of 

 South Africa immediately investigated. 



The great mistake in South Africa has been to look too much 

 to the mines. Just as the discovery of the diamond mines saved 

 the Cape Colony from dire financial distress, so we have the 

 President of the Transvaal Chamber of Mines saying, at the last 

 annual meeting of that body, that " the ])ros])erity. and. indeed, 

 the whole fabric, of the Union is largely l)ased on the mining 

 industry.'' 'But the mineral wealtli of the IVansvaal will not 

 last for ever — the gold mines are a diminishing asset. i'rans- 

 vaal dividends amounted in 1916 to over nine million pounds, 

 but the Rand cannot go on indefinitely contributing over 50 i)er 

 cent, of the total revenue of the Union. We have examples 

 from history to shew that, where enlightened action has pre- 

 vailed, the revenues derived ifrcjm mineral wealth, instead of 

 being utilised to lighten the burdens of the general taxpayer, 

 have, to a liberal extent, been de\oted to the general development 



