92 



CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 



Hope and High Commissioner for South Africa 

 is Sir Hercules George Robert Robinson, ap- 

 pointed in 1880. The Prime Minister is Sir 

 Gordon Sprigg. 



Area and Population. The area of Cape Colony 

 proper is 199,406 square miles, and including 

 its dependencies, 231,276 square miles. The 

 population of Cape Colony proper in 1881 

 comprised 269,725 persons of European origin, 

 and 541,725 others. The estimated population 

 of the colonies and its dependencies in 1885 

 was 1,252,347. The dependencies are Griqua- 

 land West, with an area of 17,800 square 

 miles, and 16,927 white and 32,174 colored in- 

 habitants; the Transkei, area, 2,535 square 

 miles, population 820 whites, and 118,732 

 others ; Griqualand East, area, 7,480 square 

 miles, population, 3,066 whites, and 93,114 

 others; and Tembuland, area, 8,320 square 

 miles, population, 8,320 whites, and 114,318 

 others. The capital of the colony is Cape 

 Town, which has about 60,000 inhabitants. A 

 large proportion of the white people of the 

 colony are descended from the original Dutch, 

 French, and German settlers. The immigra- 

 tion in 1884 was 292. 



Basutoland, with an area of 10,290 square 

 miles, and 128,000 inhabitants ; Bechuanaland, 

 with 180,000 square miles, and 478,000 inhabi- 

 tants ; and Pondoland, with 200,000 inhabi- 

 tants, are British possessions, directly under 

 imperial jurisdiction. 



Commerce. The total value of imports in 

 1885 was 4,772,904, and of exports, 3,159,- ' 

 487, exclusive of specie and diamonds. The 

 export of wool was valued at 1,426,1G8; os- 

 trich-feathers, 585,278 ; hides and skins, 

 424,755; copper-ore, 395,675 ; Angora hair, 

 204,018 ; wine, 17,245. The value of dia- 

 monds exported was 2,489,659. Including 

 gold and diamonds, the total value of exports 

 was 5,811,444. 



The railroad mileage at the close of 1885 was 

 1,599. The gross earnings for the year were 

 1,037,359, and the expenses, 672,489. The 

 number of letters carried in the mails in 1885 

 was 6,244,169, and of newspapers, 3,986,124. 

 The telegraph lines at the end of 1885 had a 

 total length of 4,329 miles ; the number of mes- 

 sages for the year was 798,468 ; the revenue, 

 52,453 ; the expenditures, 45,030. 



Finances. The revenue for the year ended 

 June 30, 1887, was 3,155,000, which was bal- 

 anced by the expenditure. The estimated 

 revenue for 1887-'88 is 3,186,000, and the 

 estimated expenditure 3,147,000 The finan- 

 ces of the colony are steadily improving. 



Disfranchisement of Natives. When responsible 

 government was granted to Cape Colony in 

 1853, the Constitution was framed so as to se- 

 cure equal political rights to whites and blacks. 

 The idea of political equality of the races is 

 obnoxious to the Afrikander population, al- 

 though the natives have not abused the privi- 

 lege of voting, have made scarcely any use of 

 it, and are not able, if they should all vote, to 



influence the results of elections, except in a 

 few constituencies. In 1887 the Cape Legis- 

 lature passed a bill to deprive of the franchise 

 all natives whose qualifications are derived 

 from communal occupation, the effect of which 

 will be to disfranchise nearly all natives who 

 can now exercise the right of voting. A peti- 

 tion to have it disallowed by the Imperial Gov- 

 vernment was made through the English so- 

 ciety for the protection of aborigines, but was 

 not entertained. 



Proposed Customs Union. Cape Colony and 

 Natal have entered into a competition with 

 each other for the increased trade of the 

 Dutch republics resulting from the gold dis- 

 coveries in the Transvaal. The customs duties 

 were almost entirely abolished by the two 

 colonies, to the detriment of their revenues 

 and the benefit of the Transvaal and the Orange 

 Free State. A proposition for a conference 

 to discuss a customs union of all the South 

 African countries, and the question of railroad 

 connections was favorably received in the re- 

 publics, but the British colonies find it difficult 

 to harmonize their reciprocal interests, since 

 the free admission of sugar from Natal into 

 Cape Colony would entail a heavy loss of 

 revenue on Cape Colony, and the sacrifice of a 

 profitable trade with Mauritius, without any 

 resulting benefit. The Cape Government is 

 extending the Kimberley railroad to the Vaal 

 river, and railroads from the east coast into 

 the Free State or the Transvaal are under dis- 

 cussion. In the mean time the Delagoa Bay 

 Railroad project is being carried out by the 

 South African Republic, which found a Belgian 

 syndicate ready to take the concession. 



Annexation of Znlnland. By a convention con- 

 cluded on Oct. 22, 1886, between the British 

 Government and the Boers who had estab- 

 lished a new republic in Zululand on the bor- 

 ders of the Transvaal, and had proclaimed a 

 protectorate over the entire Zulu nation, the 

 partition of the country between the Zululand 

 Republic and the Zulus was agreed to, the 

 Boers, in return for the recognition of their 

 republic, giving up all rights over Eastern Zu- 

 luland, and surrendering a part of the territory 

 that they had already occupied. A large pro- 

 portion of the valuable lands in Zululand were 

 included in the Zulu Reserve, over which a 

 British protectorate had been established, and 

 the greater part of those that were left were 

 contained in the "New Republic. Eastern Zu- 

 luland, the section still retained for the posses- 

 sion of the natives, consisted to a large extent 

 of marshes and fever-scourged areas, yet 

 enough of good land remained, in the opinion 

 of the British negotiators for the maintenance 

 of the diminished Zulu nation. In the district 

 of Kwamagaza, east of the boundary-line, 400 

 Boers had settled on 80 farms, and the British 

 promised that their titles should be respected. 

 Within the borders of the New Republic lived 

 about 40,000 Zulus. The district of Umgojana, 

 north of the Umkusi river, forming a wedge 



