100 CANADA, DOMINION OR 



CAPE COLONY AND SOUTH AFRICA. 



ciently low, that they were not general enough, 

 and that some of th reductions, especially those 

 stipulated for In tin- French treaty, were of 

 questionable value to the people of Canada. 

 However this may be. it is certain that the tariff 

 changes made have given general satisfaction to 

 the Conservatives. and even to Liberals who are 

 not strongly partisan. 



The most important political event of the 

 year in the history <>f Canada was the death of 

 the Premier. Sir John S. D, Thompson, at Wind- 

 sor, England, on Dec. 12, soon after he had been 

 sworn in as a member of the Queen's Privy 

 Council, Shortly after the news of the Premier's 

 death wa- received in Canada the members of 

 the Dominion Cabinet met. and it was deter* 

 mined that Hon. Mackenzie Bowell, Minister 

 of Customs, should assume the vacant leader- 

 ship of the Government. The Governor-General 

 then requested Mr. Bowell to form a ministry, 

 which he did. Sir John Thompson succeeded 

 the late Sir John Abbott as Premier in Decem- 

 ber. 1802. 



Col on fal Trade Conference. At a meeting 

 held in London in November, 1884, the Imperial 

 Federation League was formed, the object of 

 which was to bring about a closer union between 

 the mot her country and the colonies. The proj- 

 ect has enlisted the sympathies and engaged 

 the attention of public men and statesmen in 

 various portions of the empire, but so far noth- 

 ing tangible has resulted. 



The Canadian Minister of Customs toward 

 the close of 1893 visited the Australian colonies 

 and conferred with their various governments 

 in furtherance of closer trade relations between 

 the Australian and the other colonies and Can- 

 ada. The result of this was a colonial confer- 

 ence, which was formally opened at Ottawa on 

 . I une _>*. 1894. The following imperial and co- 

 lonial delegates were accredited to the confer- 

 ence: Great Britain, the Earl of Jersey; New 

 South Wales, Hon. F. B. Suttor; Cape Colony, 

 Sir Henry I >e Villiers, Sir Charles Mills, and Jan 

 Hendriok Hofmeyei 1 ; South Australia, lion. 

 Thomas Playfonl: New Zealand, Albert Lee 

 Smith : Victoria, Sir Henry Wrixon, lion. Nich- 

 olas Fitzgerald. and Hon. Simon Fraser; Queens- 

 land, Hon. A. J. Tin nne. Hon. William Forrest; 

 Canada. Hon. Mackenzie Bowell. Sir Adolph 

 Caro n . i| ( , . (Jeorge E. Foster, and Sandford 

 Fleming. ( '. .M. (i. 



Addresses \\cre delivered by the Governor- 

 C.enerai of Canada. Sir .John S. I). Thompson, 

 the Karl of Jersey, and several of the represent- 

 ative-; from Australia and the Cape of Good 

 Hope, 



The conference held several meetings, the 

 principal result of the deliberations being the 

 adopt i, ,n, on -Inly 11, of the following resolu- 

 tions : 



UV/./w/.*, The stability and progress of the British 

 Empire <-aii best he assured i, v drawing continually 

 closer the bonds that unite the colonies with the 

 mother <-mitry, and l.y the continuous growth of a 

 practical sympathy and co-operatioa in all that per- 



tains to common \\cltare: And 



\\'l,, ri. This eo-opcnitioii and unity can in no 

 way he more effectually promoted than 'l>v the culti- 

 vation and extension of the mutual and profitable in- 

 terchange oftheir products Therefore, 



/,'. KI, //.,/, That this conference records its belief in 



the advisability of a customs arrangement between 

 Great Britain and its colonies, by which trade within 

 tin' empire may be placed on a more favorable basis 

 than that which is carried on with foreign countries. 



Jtesolved, That until the mother country can see 

 her way to enter into a customs arrangement with 

 her colonies, it is desirable that, when empowered so 

 to do, the colonies of Great Britain, or such of them 

 as may he disposed to accede to this view, take steps 

 to place each other's products, in whole or in part, on 

 a more favored customs basis than is accorded to the 

 like products of foreign countries. 



Resolved, That for the purposes of this resolution 

 the South African Customs Union be considered as 

 part of the territory capable of being brought within 

 the scope of the contemplated trade arrangements. 



The delegates representing Canada, Tasmania, 

 Cape of Good Hope, South Australia, and Vic- 

 toria voted in the affirmative, while those repre- 

 senting New South Wales, New Zealand, and 

 Queensland voted in the negative. 



CAPE COLONY AND SOUTH AFRICA. 

 The British colony of the Cape of Good Hope 

 has had responsible government since 1872. 

 Natal became one of the self-governing colonies 

 in 1893. British Bechuanaland is a crown colony 

 adjoining Cape Colony on the north, and north 

 of it is the Bechnanaland protectorate. The 

 German protectorate of Southwest Africa em- 

 braces Namaqualand and Damaraland, extend- 

 ing from the Atlantic to the western boundaries 

 of the British possessions. Inclosed between 

 Cape Colony and its native dependencies, Natal, 

 the British protectorate of Zululand, the Portu- 

 guese possessions, and now shut in on the north 

 by the territory of the British South Africa 

 Company, is a territory a quarter greater than 

 the United Kingdom, where the Dutch settlers 

 have endeavored to maintain political independ- 

 ence in the South African Republic and the 

 Orange Free State. British South Africa is the 

 territory over which the British South Africa 

 Company in 1889 obtained by royal charter sov- 

 ereign and property rights, which have been cur- 

 tailed in 1894 in respect to the portion actually 

 conquered and colonized. British South Africa 

 extends from the borders of Bechuanaland and 

 the South African Republic up to the Zambesi, 

 which is the geographical limit of South Africa. 

 This same territory is sometimes included under 

 the term British Zambesia with British Central 

 Africa, a sphere of influence recognized in 

 treaties that extends to the confines of the Con- 

 go Free State and German East Africa. 



Commerce and Production. The export 

 trade of South Africa depends mainly on mining, 

 although the Boers of Cape Colony and of the 

 republics export pastoral products. Cape Colony 

 produces ostrich feathers and a surplus of wine. 

 and Natal sugar. The exports for the whole of 

 South Africa were appraised for the year ending 

 June 30, 1893. at 13,500,000, of which 12,- 

 250,000 passed through the ports of Cape Colony 

 and 1,250,000 through Durban. Natal. The ex- 

 port of gold was 4,500,000: of diamonds, 4.- 

 000,000; of copper ore, which is obtained in 

 Namaqualand. 250,000 : of coal, which is mined 

 in Natal, 50,000. The wool export amounted 

 to 2,050,000; that of Angora hair, 600.000: 

 hides and skins. 550,000; ostrich feathers, 

 500,000; wine, 18,000; tan bark from Naial. 

 7,000; dried flowers from the Cape. 21,000 ; 

 fish exported to Mauritius, 13,000; sugar, 



