CAPE COLONY AND SOUTH AFRICA. 



115 



Schreiner ministry to the imperial naval authori- 

 ties of the control of the port of Simon's Town 

 under conditions which place it almost in the 

 position of an English dockyard port for naval 

 purposes, a concession that the Rhodes ministry 

 refused in 1890 for fear of facilitating imperial 

 intervention in South African affairs. 



Basutoland. The Basutos are the most in- 

 dustrious of the Kaffir tribes, raising mealies, 

 wheat, and Kaffir corn for export, wool also, and 

 herds of cattle. The area of their territory is 

 10,293 square miles, and the population about 

 250,000. The Resident Commissioner is Sir G. Y. 

 Lagden. The imports in 1898 were valued at 

 100,280, and exports at 138,500. The revenue 

 is derived from a native hut tax of 10s. and 

 from licenses. Of 320,934 cattle in the country, 

 perhaps 75 per cent, died of the rinderpest in 

 1897. 



Bechuanaland Protectorate. The protecto- 

 rate embraces the lands between the Molopo and 

 Zambesi rivers, occupied by the Bamangwato 

 under Chief Khama, the Bakhatla under Lenchwe, 

 the Bakwena under Sebele, the Bangwaketse un- 

 der Bathoen, and the Bamaliti under Ikaneng. 

 The area is estimated at 213,000 square miles, 

 and the population at 200,000. The natives rear 

 cattle and cultivate the soil. The white mounted 

 police numbered 127 officers and men in 1897, and 

 the native police 60. The Resident Commissioner 

 is Major H. J. Goold Adams. The revenue in 

 1897 was 47,511. The expenditure was 88,448 

 in that year, 40,102 being required for police, 

 24,152 for native relief on account of the rinder- 

 pest and drought, and 4,707 for extra police and 

 for burning the carcasses of cattle that died of 

 the plague. 



Natal. The legislative authority is vested by 

 the Constitution of 1893 in a Legislative Coun- 

 cil of 11 members, nominated for ten years by 

 the Governor, advised by his ministers, and a 

 Legislative Assembly elected by owners of real 

 estate worth 50, occupiers paying 10 rent, 

 and persons having at least 96 income. All 

 appropriations of money must be recommended 

 by message of the Governor, whose assent, revo- 

 cable within two years, is required for all other 

 legislation. 



The Governor is Sir Walter Francis Hely- 

 Hutchinson, appointed in 1893. The ministry ap- 

 pointed on Oct. 4, 1897, was composed as follows: 

 Premier and Colonial Secretary, Sir Henry Binns ; 

 Attorney-General and Minister of Education, 

 Henry Bale; Minister of Public Works, Lieut.- 

 Col. Albert Henry Hime; Minister of Native Af- 

 fairs, J. L. Hulett; Treasurer, William Arbuckle; 

 Minister of Agriculture, F. A. R. Johnstone. On 

 the death of Sir Henry Binns the ministry was 

 reconstituted, on June 9, as follows: Prime Min- 

 ister and Minister of Lands and Works, Lieut.- 

 Col. Hime; Attorney-General and Minister of 

 Education, Henry Bale; Secretary for Native 

 Affairs, Frederick Robert Moor; Colonial Secre- 

 tary, C. J. Smythe; Treasurer, W. Arbuckle; 

 Minister of Agriculture, William Daniel Winter. 



Area and Population. The area is estimated 

 at 35,000 square miles, inclusive of Zululand. 

 The population in 1898 was 829,005, of whom 

 61,000 are Europeans, 53,370 Indians, and 714,635 

 Kaffirs. Zululand, including British Amatonga- 

 land, with an area of 14,238 square miles, had 

 a population of 1,131 whites and 196,511 natives 

 in 1897. The capital of Natal is Durban, which 

 had > 24,595 inhabitants in 1898. 



Finances. The revenue for the year ending 

 June 30, 1897, was 2,213,074; expenditure, 

 1,624,998. The receipts from railroads were 



1,285,249; from customs, 413,390; from ex- 

 cise, 20,216; from land sales, 44,112; from 

 the post oilice, 56,822; from telegraphs, 22,- 

 924; from stamps and licenses, 31,408; from the 

 native hut tax, 94,038. The expenditure for 

 railroads was 560,455; for public works, 90,- 

 419; for defense, 156,021; loan expenditure, 

 649,587. The revenue of Zululand was 67,658; 

 expenditure, 68,518. The public debt of Natal 

 on June 30, 1897, amounted to 8,019,143. The 

 revenue for 1900 was estimated at 2,099,855; 

 ordinary expenditure, 2,073,332; expenditure 

 from the loan fund, 1,011,225. 



Defense. The colony maintains a corps of 

 490 mounted police, which cost 57,766 in 1896. 

 The volunteers number 1,391. 



Commerce and Production. Europeans have 

 247,160 acres under cultivation; natives, 598,790 

 acres. Europeans in 1892 owned 125,992 cattle, 

 54,795 Angora goats, 649,475 sheep, and 26,921 

 horses; natives had 114,829 cattle, 252,183 goats, 

 21,487 sheep, and 21,760 horses. The herds of 

 cattle had greatly diminished in consequence of 

 the cattle plague. The output of the coal mines 

 in 1897 was 243,960 tons. This industry is be- 

 coming important, as there is a demand for coal 

 for export, and the rich beds of iron ore that 

 have been found in different places offer oppor- 

 tunities for further development. The total value 

 of imports in 1897 was 5,983,589, which in- 

 cludes much merchandise destined for the Trans- 

 vaal and the Orange Free State. The value of 

 the exports was 1,621,923. The principal im- 

 ports were iron and iron goods of the value of 

 612,864; haberdashery, 480,208; clothing, 

 414,269; machinery, 397,528; flour and grain, 

 338,277; leather manufactures, 263,708; wine, 

 beer, and spirits, 142,904; cotton goods, 75,- 

 638; woolen goods, 74,311. The export ol wool 

 was 474,681 in value; of coal, 89,863; of hides 

 and skins, 51,220; of Angora hair, 34,892; 

 of gold, 18,223; of bark, 17,659; of sugar, 

 12,011. In 1898 the total value of imports 

 was 5,323,216; of exports, 2,184,667. The 

 Government expects to make large tracts of the 

 midland country available for European settle- 

 ment by a comprehensive scheme of irrigation. 



Navigation. The number of vessels arriving 

 in 1897 was 780, of 1,246,390 tons; the number 

 departing was 789, of 1,248,703 tons. The mer- 

 chant marine of the colony consisted of 14 sail- 

 ing vessels, of 699 tons, and 15 steamers, of 

 2,954 tons. 



Railroads. The length of railroads open for 

 traffic in 1898 was 487 miles, all belonging to 

 the Government. A line 307 miles in length, 

 from Durban through Pietermaritzburg to the 

 frontier of the South African Republic, has been 

 extended 204 miles farther through Johannes- 

 burg to Pretoria. Branches from the main line 

 lead north and south along the coast, and one 

 enters the Orange Free State, terminating at 

 Harrismith. The cost of building the railroads 

 was 6,588,507. The receipts in 1897 were 

 1,051,359, and the expenses 583,088, showing 

 a net profit of 7.20 per cent. 



The Transvaal Question. After three years 

 of comparative quiescence which followed the 

 Jameson raid the conflict between the British 

 Government, supporting the demands of the 

 Uitlanders in the Transvaal, and the Govern- 

 ment of the South African Republic again be- 

 came acute in consequence of a renewal of the 

 agitation among the Uitlanders. The occasion 

 of an excited state of feeling being revived in 

 Johannesburg was the homicide of Tom Jack- 

 son Edgar, an Englishman, accused of having 



