MAKING A WILL. 259 



some years a British Vice-Consul has again 

 been appointed really a great necessity here, 

 as so many Englishmen now pass through the 

 town to and from the goldfields. The consul is 

 of use to his countrymen in death as well as in 

 life, for if a foreigner dies here without making 

 a will which is a very formal, lengthy business, 

 requiring seven witnesses and there is no consul 

 to take charge of his affairs, all his property 

 is sold by public auction, even including his 

 private letters, and the proceeds go into the 

 Government coffers, the authorities declining 

 to pay his doctor's bill or any little outstanding 

 debts, and even grumbling at having to provide 

 a coffin. 



I ain told it is a troublesome process to prove 

 a debt, costing about ,5, and when proved 

 there is perhaps a delay of two years before 

 payment is made. 



Two lines of steamers now run monthly 

 services, for the Union Company have lately 

 again added Delagoa Bay to their list of ports 

 the Donald Currie line still continuing the 



