80 



CAPE COLONY AND BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA. 



1878. In August, 1874, he proceeded to the 

 Feejee Islands for the purpose of settling mat- 

 ter between the British Government and the na- 

 tive power. On October 15th he accepted the 

 unconditional cession of the islands, annexed 

 them to the British Empire, and hoisted the 

 British flag. For some time he remained at 

 the head of the provisional government which 

 he established for the islands. For the ser- 

 vices rendered on this occasion he was in 

 January, 1875, created a Grand Cross of the 

 Order of Sts. Michael and George. From 1879 

 to 1880 he was Governor of New Zealand. In 

 1880 he was "Governor and Commander-in- 

 Chief of the Colony of Good Hope and her Ma- 

 jesty's High Commissioner for South Africa." 



The colony of Natal, formerly an integral 

 part of the Cape of Good Hope settlement, 

 was erected in 1856 into a separate colony 

 under the British Crown, represented first by 

 a Lieutenant-Governor, and since 1879 by a 

 Governor. Under the charter of constitution 

 granted in 1856 and modified in 1875 and 



1879, the Governor is assisted in the adminis- 

 tration of the colony by an 'Executive and a 

 legislative council. The Executive Council is 

 composed of the Chief-Justice, the comman- 

 dant, the Colonial Secretary, the Treasurer, the 

 Attorney-General, the Secretary for Native 

 Affairs, and two members nominated by the 

 Governor from among the deputies elected to 

 the Legislative Council. The latter is com- 

 posed of thirteen official members and fifteen 

 members elected by the counties and boroughs. 

 The budget of the colony shows a steadily in- 

 creasing revenue and expenditure, as will be 

 seen from the following table : 



About one fourth of the revenue is derived 

 from customs, and the rest from miscellaneous 

 sources of income, among them a "hut-tax" 

 on natives, the impost being fixed at 14*. per 

 hut. In 1 878 there were 85,714 huts thus taxed. 

 The largest items in the list of expenditures are 

 those for police and the administration of jus- 

 tice. The public debt consists of six loans, all 

 at six per c:nt, three of them contracted for 

 harbor-works, two for coolie immigration, and 

 the last, raised in 1876, for the construction ot 

 a line of railway. The total debt of the colony 

 was 1,631,700 at the end of 1879. The col- 

 ony has a seaboard of 150 miles, but the ex- 

 tent of some of the districts is all but unknown. 

 As to race there were in 1877 22,650 persons 

 of European descent and 12,823 coolies; all the 

 remainder were natives of Africa. In the two 



towns of the colony, Pietermaritzburg and Dur- 

 ban, the European and native population were 

 nearly equal in numbers. Comparatively few 

 immigrants arrived in recent years, the former 

 government aid to this effect having been dis- 

 continued. The commerce of Natal is almost 

 entirely with Great Britain. The staple article 

 of export is sheep's wool. The amount of 

 wool exported to Great Britain was valued at 

 400,672 in 1874, at 514,310 in ]875, at 

 379,079 in 1876, at 518,379 in 1877, at 

 568,111 in 1878, and at 502,539 in 1879. 

 Next in importance to wool stand hides, the 

 exports of which were of the value of 67,405 

 in 1879; and raw sugar, of the value of 13,- 

 111, in the same year. Many of the exports of 

 the colony, particularly wool, come from the 

 neighboring Dutch settlements, which also ab- 

 sorb more than one third of the imports. Cot- 

 ton was first grown in the colony in 18t>6. 

 The exports of raw cotton to Great Britain 

 were valued at 18,559 in 1870, and rose tomore 

 than 29,000 in 1871, but have rapidly declined 

 ever since until 1876, when they amounted to 

 only 197. From 1877 to 1879 no raw cotton 

 was exported. The chief articles of British 

 imports into Natal in 1879 were apparel and 

 haberdashery, valued at 341,317; and iron, 

 wrought and unwrought, of the value of 94,- 

 272. The Government in 1875 made a contract 

 for the construction of a railway system which 

 is to comprise 345 miles of a single line, to be 

 constructed at a cost of 1,200,000. 



Major-General Sir GEORGE POMEROY COLLET 

 was appointed Governor of Natal, February 19, 

 1880. He was born in 1835, entered the army 

 in 1850, and served in the Ashantee and other 

 wars. 



The Basutos, who in 1880 attracted great 

 attention by their revolt against English rule, 

 have, to a large extent, been civilized and 

 Christianized by Protestant missionaries from 

 France. The missionaries were invited into 

 the country by King Moshesh, who steadfastly 

 aided all the efforts for spreading education 

 and civilization until his death, although he 

 never became a Christian himself. The ma- 

 jority of the Basutos were in 1880 still pagans, 

 but the Christian minority, excelling by educa- 

 tion, industry, and wealth, already has a con- 

 trolling influence. The churches have had 

 since 1872 a synodal organization after the 

 model of the Reformed Church of France. 



The Colonial Parliament was opened, May 

 7th, by Sir Bartle Frere, who announced in 

 his opening speecli that bills would be present- 

 ed for convening a conference on the confed- 

 eration of the South African colonies, for sanc- 

 tioning the annexation of Griqualand West, for 

 extending the system of railways and improv- 

 ing harbors, and for dealing with the detention 

 of Cetywayo and Secocoeni. The proposal for 

 a conference of the colonies on confederation 

 was brought up in June. A stronger opposi- 

 tion was manifested against it than had been 

 anticipated ; and, after three days of discussion, 



