PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — SECTION B. 49 



Should the find stand the test of such exploration and prove 

 to be really of importance, it then stands in need perhaps of much 

 more capital for its proper development than the small syndicate 

 can command, and more powerful financial forces must be called 

 in to caiTy the development a stage further. So perhaps at last 

 a really large mining concern may come into being, or, as in the 

 case already instanced, that of the Rand, the formation which is 

 investigated may be found to be continuous over a large area, and 

 an important new mining field may be developed. 



It might be thought that when a miining field had attained, 

 to the productive stage on a large scale, its future would, be simple 

 and easy. It seems, however, that when such a happy position 

 has been attained, our mining field may enter upon a second 

 period of uncertainty from quite a new set of causes. There are 

 undoubtedly gold mines on the Rand of which it can be confidently 

 asserted that, as far as the intrinsic value of their contents goes, 

 they involve none of the risks usually associated witli gold mining, 

 yet have had new elements of uncertainty added from quite 

 outside sources. 



The very importance to the community as a whole of such a 

 mineral deposit as that of the Witwatersrand attracts to it the 

 notice of the politician, the labour reformer, and the tax gatherer. 

 This aspect of the subject we had, however, better leave to some 

 other section of the Association, for it passes out of the sphere 

 of ours. 



Before leaving the subject of the development of a mining 

 field, it will be interesting to compare the conditions where a 

 mineral like coal is concerned, with those obtaining where gold 

 is the product. 



Gold has always possessed a great advantage over other mine 

 products, in that the imcertainties connected with mining it wei'e 

 mainly at one end of the process. The price of the product has 

 long been more or less fixed, and the market is practically un- 

 limited. Moreover, it does not matter whether the miner produces 

 a pennyweight or a ton of gold, he can sell it equally well at a 

 more or less fixed price, and, moreover, the transport of his 

 product is easy and the cost of it bears but a small proportion to 

 the total value. 



With a product like coal, however, especially in a young 

 country like South Africa with its possible manufactures unde- 

 veloped, the internal market is limited, and the only means of 

 developing a big co^al mining field is by finding an outlet for 

 sui-plus production, which, in this case, means the establishment 

 of a sufficiently large trade in coal for bunker and export pui-poses. 



This depends upon quite other considerations than those of 

 mining, more especially upon the ease and cheapness of trans- 

 port and the facilities for handling coal at the port through which 

 it is shipped, for, to develop a shipping trade, delivery must be 

 prompt and certain. This is of special interest to us here, for 

 Delagoa Bay is the natural outlet through which a great export 



