94 



CAPE COLONY AND SOUTH AFRICA. 



in addition to which sheep, horses, and cattle, 

 hides, diamonds, and ostrich feathers are export- 

 ed. The total value of imports is estimated at 

 1,000,000, and exports at twice that amount. 

 The revenue for 1889-'90 was 272,323, and the 

 expenditure $205.090. The surplus for that and 

 the preceding year, amounting to 132,785, has 

 been applied to education and to building roads 

 and bridges. The President has proposed an 

 amendment t<> tin- Constitution, empowering the 

 Executive to suspend the operation of laws passed 

 by a small majority. Commercial treaties have 

 recently been negotiated with Italy, Holland, and 

 other countries." The republic will soon have 

 railroad connections with the Cape system and 

 with Natal, which has not yet entered the South 

 African customs union, and eventually will pos- 

 sess an alternative communication with the sea 

 over the projected railroads of the Transvaal. 



South African Republic. The state for- 

 merly called the Transvaal Republic has an area 

 of 121,854 square miles, and the white population 

 in 1889 was estimated at 110,000. of whom 62,000 

 were of the original Dutch stock. There are 

 said to be 500,000 natives. The gold-diggers 

 numbered about 20,000, and the traders 10,000. 

 Johannesburg, the center of the Witwatersrand 

 mining district, had a steady population of 30,- 

 000 and a transient population three times as 

 great. The financial accounts for 1888 showed a 

 revenueof 884,440 and 770,492 of expenditures. 

 On Dec. 31, 1888, there was an unexpended bal- 

 ance of 276,006. For 1889 the revenue was es- 

 timated at 1,382,661, and expenditure at 1,030,- 

 890. The soil is divided into about 20.000 farms, 

 of which one fifth are the property of the state, 

 which owns the principal mining lands in the 

 Barberton district. The extent of the gold fields 

 proclaimed up to the close of 1889 was 1,500,000 

 acres. The gold exported in 1889 amounted to 

 876,980. There were then more than 371 com- 

 panies, including those working in Swaziland, 

 with 2.151 stamps in operation, the total nominal 

 capital amounting to 21,473,000. The Selati 

 fields in the Zoutpansburg district are said to be 

 richer even than those of the Witwatersrand, and 

 a railroad to that point is to be contructed. 

 Wool growing and cattle raising are the princi- 

 pal occupations of the old settlers. Agriculture 

 is not much pursued except by the natives, al- 

 though wheat, tobacco, sugar, coffee, and cotton 

 can be grown. Wine and brandy are produced in 

 considerable quantities. Since the opening of the 

 gold mines the Boers have found transportation 

 with ox teams a very profitable employment. 



The British and Australian miners who form 

 the bulk of the immigration that has built up 

 Johannesburg and other mining stations, who at 

 first were content to pay taxes to the Transvaal 

 Government in return for an efficient police serv- 

 ice and protection from the natives, soon de- 

 manded a share in the control of the Govern- 

 ment, growing bolder as they increased in num- 

 bers, until the Boer statesmen began to fear vio- 

 lent manifestations and collisions that wculd 

 lead inevitably to the annexation of their country 

 by Great Britain and the subversion of their na- 

 tional institutions. When President Kriiger vis- 

 ited Johannesburg to discuss the situation in 

 March, 1890, he was prevented from speaking by 

 a turbulent mob who, reproaching him for the in- 



sufficiency of the promised concessions, tore 

 down the flag of the Republic and hoisted the 

 British flag in its place. Three men, named 

 Rudd, Rogally, and Reid, were arrested as the 

 ringleaders, and were tried at Pretoria in July, 

 when they were acquitted by a jury anxious to 

 avoid international complications. An editor 

 named Rodway who had been indicted for treas- 

 onable designs against the Government of the 

 Republic was discharged from custody through 

 the interposition of the British representative, 

 The miners at Johannesburg were appeased by 

 the promise of the early construction of a rail- 

 road from Pretoria to their place. To avoid oc- 

 casions of friction and strife that could lead to 

 the loss of Transvaal independence, President 

 Krtiger framed a bill to give the strangers par- 

 ticipation in the government of the country I 

 the creation of a separate Volksraad, to be elect* 

 by them, the measures of which will be subjf 

 to the veto of the regular Volksraad elected bj 

 the Boers. He persuaded his countrymen to 

 adopt, much against their inclination, this change 

 in the Constitution. The President of the Repub- 

 lic and the Commandant-General of the forces 

 will be elected, as before, by the native burghers, 

 and the other members of the executive are 

 chosen by the Upper Chamber. The new Cham- 

 ber has power to legislate for the local interests 

 of the country with the concurrence of the other 

 Chamber. A residence of five years entitles a 

 foreigner, on the fulfillment of certain easy 

 conditions, to full citizenship, except that he 

 is not eligible to the Upper Chamber unless he 

 has served for a certain number of years in the 

 other. The Government has decided to proceed 

 rapidly in its plans of railroad construction. A 

 road from Pretoria to meet the Portuguese line 

 from Delagoa Bay, and to meet the railroad 

 crossing the Orange Free State from Cape Colo- 

 ny to the Vaal river, with branches to the min- 

 ing districts, and to join the road connecting the 

 Orange Republic's system with Natal and the 

 coast, are the main features of the scheme. 



The Swaziland Settlement. The death of 

 the Swazi king, Umbandine, made the matter 

 of the settlement of the control of the country 

 more urgent. The convention of 1884 between 

 the Transvaal and British governments guaran- 

 teed the independence of the Swazi nation. The 

 concessions obtained from the late king by Brit- 

 ish gold miners and Boer farmers rendered neces- 

 sary a new arrangement for the control of the 

 white settlers. Sir Francis de Winton, who was 

 sent to study the question on the spot in con- 

 junction with commissioners of the Transvaal 

 Government, was believed to have taken with 

 him instructions for abandoning the joint pro- 

 tectorate possessed by Great Britain and permit- 

 ting the Transvaal Boers to annex the country, 

 thus securing the possibility of access to the sea 

 that was denied them in Zululand. The British 

 authorities could not see their way to acquiring 

 the territory themselves, since it can not be en- 

 tered from British territory without passing over 

 foreign soil. The report of the British com- 

 missioner was in favor of handing over the en- 

 tire control of the whites to the Boer Republic. 

 The proposed settlement was strongly condemned 

 by the imperialists in England, who protested 

 with such energy that the preliminary arrange- 



