110 



CAPE COLONY AND SOUTH AFRICA. 



Area and Population. The area of Cape Colo- 

 ny, with British Kaffraria and the annexed dis- 

 tricts of Basutoland, Griqualand West, and the 

 Transkei, is reported as 221,950 square miles. 

 The total population in 1881 was 1,249,824. 



Commerce. The value in United States money 

 of the imports in 1882 was $41,762,635 ; of the 

 exports, $21,05 1,702. Wool, the second largest 

 article of export, has decreased in recent years, 

 while the exports of ostrich-feathers, copper- 

 ore, and Angora hair have largely increased. 

 Diamonds, the leading commercial product of 

 the country, are not included in the custom- 

 house returns, as they are forwarded through 

 the post-office. The value of the shipments 

 increased from $8,796,354 in 1876 to $20,323,- 

 487 in 1881. The export in 1882 was $19,- 

 429,510. The illicit traffic is also very large, 

 but can not be estimated. The colony has suf- 

 fered a severe commercial depression, caused 

 by short crops in 1881 and 1882, a small-pox 

 epidemic in the latter year, a panic in diamond- 

 mining stocks, the cessation of large war ex- 

 penditures, and over-importation of goods. The 

 colony imported in 1882 nearly $3,000,000 

 worth of grain and flour, and about $750,000 

 worth of provisions. The tonnage entered at 

 the ports of the colony in 1882 was 3,058,876 

 tons; cleared, 3,034,015. 



Railroads and Telegraphs. Nearly 1,000 miles 

 of railroad were authorized in 1876, and about 

 500 miles more in 1881. The entire network, 

 the largest in proportion to the public debt of 

 any British colony, was about completed at the 

 end of 1884. The telegraph lines open at the 

 beginning of 1883 were 3,466 miles in total 

 length, with 6,951 miles of wire. 



The Diamond-Fields. The speculation in min- 

 ing shares a few years ago was one of the most 

 remarkable financial bubbles of modern times. 

 When the crash came, the whole credit system 

 of Cape Colony was unhinged. The falling of 

 the reef in the older mines was a more perma- 

 nent cause of depression in this industry. None 

 of the great companies now pay dividends. The 

 reef is the non-diamondiferous rock which is 

 mingled in alternate folds with the diamond- 

 bearing " blue ground." It was left standing 

 in great walls in the vast excavations, five 

 hundred feet deep or more, and has now fallen, 

 covering the whole bottom of the mines. To 

 remove it requires an outlay of capital which 

 the mining companies can hardly command, 

 since European investors are now shy of such 

 property. ^To mine underneath it by shafts 

 and galleries would necessitate a complete 

 redistribution of mining claims. The former 

 plan is therefore more feasible. Engineers are 

 engaged upon the problem. 



Both^ white and colored laborers are em- 

 ployed in the mines. Illicit diamond-buying, 

 though punishable with five or ten years' penal 

 servitude, is carried on to an enormous extent. 

 Many of the finest gems reach the European 

 market clandestinely. The companies in their 

 financial straits recently adopted more strin- 



gent methods to stop these thefts. One of the 

 regulations required the laborers to be stripped 

 and searched at the end of the day's work. 

 The men struck in April and attempted to put 

 out the fires of the engines, when their leader 

 and several others were shot. They paraded 

 the streets of Kimberly, 4,000 in number, and 

 held excited meetings. Police and troops from 

 the Cape put an end to the demonstrations. 



An explosion of iforty toes of dynamite and 

 five tons of gunpowder in the magazines near 

 Kimberly in January shows how local is the 

 explosive effect of mtro-glycerine preparations. 

 Window-panes were shattered as far as two 

 mile's away, but no other damage happened to 

 the town. An earth-shock traveled in some 

 directions over sixty miles. 



Finance. The revenue in 1881-'82 was 3,- 

 529,000, an increase of about 500,000 over 

 the preceding year. In 1882-'83 it fell off to 

 about 3,304,000. The expenditure in 1881- 

 '82 was 3,285,000, and that for 1882-'83 over 

 3,700,000, not including in either year the 

 war expenditure, which in 1882-'83 amounted 

 to 180,000. The debt in 1881 was 13,262,- 

 000. To supply the deficiency in the revenue 

 the general customs tariff of 10 per cent, ad 

 valorem was raised by an act passed in 1883 to 

 25 per cent. Special duties were imposed in 

 addition upon spirituous liquors, mineral oils, 

 and certain other articles. 



Change of Ministry. The conflicts with the 

 Transvaal Boers led the Dutch rural popula- 

 tion, who constitute the vast majority of the 

 people of Cape Colony, to take an active part in 

 politics, and brought about the formation of a 

 distinctly Africander party. In the senatorial 

 elections of February, 1884, they obtained con- 

 trol of the Legislature. When Parliament met 

 in May they assailed the Government for re- 

 moving restrictions on the importation of 

 vines and bulbs, thereby subjecting vine- 

 growers to the risk of phylloxera. The Scanlen 

 ministry resigned and a new one was formed 

 from the Dutch party, composed as follows: 

 Upington, Premier and Attorney- General ; 

 Ayliff, Colonial Secretary; Gordon Sprigg, 

 Treasurer- General ; Schermbrucker, Commis- 

 sioner of Crown Lands and Public Works ; and 

 De Wet, Secretary for Native Affairs. 



Annexations. The desire of the Cape Govern- 

 ment to prevent the establishment of a German 

 settlement on the west coast was the chief 

 cause of the long delay of the British Foreign 

 Office in answering Prince Bismarck's inquiry 

 regarding Angra Pequefia. The new ministry 

 held the same views with regard to the neigh- 

 borhood of a foreign power, but looked forward 

 to the incorporation of all the outlying native 

 territories in Cape Colony. They expected the 

 Imperial Government, however, first to estab- 

 lish sovereign rights over the districts that 

 they feared would fall into the hands of Ger- 

 many. The English Government was willing 

 to hand over to colonial administration the 

 districts already subject to Great Britain, and 



