78 



NATURE 



[September 27, 1917 



opportunities to those more amply qualified by energy 

 and initiative. 



While the war has had tho effect of stimulating, and 

 in some cases initiating, production, it has also served 

 to direct attention to products, hitherto neglected, which 

 could be used as substitutes. But think how little 

 has been done to manufacture the valuable products 

 from maize— alcohol, starch, glucose, dextrine, 

 glycerine, corn oil, etc., apart from the valuable feed- 

 ing stuffs and other by-products obtained from these 

 industries. At the last annual meeting of the S.A. 

 Maize Growers' Association the president complained 

 that practically nothing had been done to develop maize 

 products in this country, and urged the appointment of 

 a whole-time officer of the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment to devote his energies to the maize- 

 growing industry and its many products. A new 

 future is opened up for the maize-grower by 

 the possibility of the extended use of alcohol for power 

 purposes. An investigation carried out two years ago 

 demonstrated the practicability of alcohol as a motor 

 fuel, so that now it is entirely a matter of commercial 

 manufacture. In America the greater part of the in- 

 dustrial alcohol produced is made from maize. A fac- 

 tory, costing more than 50,000!., is in course of com- 

 pletion at Durban to produce alcohol from molasses, a 

 by-product in sugar manufacture, but, as that is 

 limited in amount, recourse must be had at no distant 

 date to maize or other cereals, potatoes, etc. The 

 agrimotor, of which hundreds are now at work day 

 and night in Great Britain and France, is a product of 

 the war, and with cheap alcohol motor fuel, derived 

 from maize which he himself grows, to drive his 

 mechanical cultivators, who shall say that the lot of 

 the farmer of the future will not be a happy one? It 

 will be seen that the subject of maize — its products and 

 by-products — is receiving the attention of the Scientific 

 and Technical Committee. 



We also want a vigorous afforestation policy. Timber 

 is used as a material rn practically every industry, and 

 its increasing use has for some years caused no little 

 anxiety as to the world's supplv; certain varieties are 

 even now practically unobtainable. Attention is there- 

 fore being frequently directed to the value of afforesta- 

 tion as a State asset. But afforestation is of national 

 importance, apart from the value of the timber pro- 

 duced. It has served for some years as a means of 

 alleviating the poor white problem. It is a potent 

 agent in the conservation of water, which is of all the 

 more importance in a country like South Africa, so 

 subject to periods of drought, and where soil erosion 

 is becoming a national problem. All over the country 

 we can see large areas absolutely ruined by a net- 

 work of huge dongas, developed from small sluits, 

 which originated probably in a cattle track. The Rail- 

 way Department has been blamed, so have the Govern- 

 ment road contractors, the Irrigation Department has 

 bf-r&i accused of negligence, while the older inhabitants 

 blame the Government and say that soil erosion is 

 entirely due to the denudation of trees and vegetation 

 without a policy of replacement. The Minister of 

 Lands blames the farmers ! He has said that the first 

 step towards a remedy is "to rouse public opinion and 

 get the agriculturist interested in the matter." The 

 remedies are said to include filling up the small sluits 

 when they begin to form ; increased "afforestation and 

 grass planting, which assist in conserving the rain- 

 fall instead of allowing it to carry millions of tons of 

 valuable soil to the sea ; and, of course, dam building 

 and irrigation, which are claimed to herald the agri- 

 cultural salvation of South Africa. The Government 

 has repeatedly stated that it is alive to the importance 

 of afforestation, and the Union can scarcely be charged 

 with negligence, since 6300 acres were afforested in 

 1914, and although the acreage fell for obvious reasons 

 NO. 2500, VOL. 100] 



to 3900 in 1915, and was slightly under 2400 in 1916, 

 to-day the total area of forest reserves under the 

 Forestry Department is more than 1,000,000 morgen. 

 The State cannot be expected to do everything. Surely 

 the farmer, who, in the majority of cases, is the land- 

 owner, realises that it is in his own interests, 

 from the water conservation and the other points of 

 view, to prosecute a vigorous scheme of afforestation, 

 and, much as the State might assist in fighting soil 

 erosion, individual effort must be strenuously exerted, 

 if the problem is going to be solved. 



These are subjects which, I am glad to say, are 

 receiving the attention of the Scientific and Technical 

 Committee. 



The first work of this committee has been to arrange 

 for a survey of the raw materials of the country, so 

 as to ascertain what is available for active industrial 

 exploitation. The Government is paving the wav by 

 investigation and research to show the world what the 

 prospects of industry are, but the Minister of Mines 

 and Industries has said that " the Government can 

 only see that general conditions as regards tariff and 

 legislation are reasonable and representative." 



It is claimed that a country which imports annually 

 thirty -eight million pounds' worth of merchandise 

 must have great manufacturing possibilities. But 

 manufacturing industries have languished in South 

 Africa, and industrial failures have been many, due to 

 a variety of causes. As one writer plaintivelv re- 

 marks, there has been "the usual dissipation of ener- 

 gies ; the usual record of a few successes and many 

 failures ; and the usual discouragement, which seems 

 the natural inheritance of the few people who try to 

 bring South Africa to a realisation of her unique 

 opportunities." 



No industry can be welcomed as a permanent indus- 

 try which does not utilise the raw products of the 

 country. In this connection the absence of a 

 "primary" iron and steel industry is most keenly felt. 

 All manufacturers using metal are dependent upon the 

 imported article, and although machinery is now being 

 manufactured in South Africa, especially on the Rand, 

 to an extent hitherto considered impossible, this has 

 largely been due to. the protection offered by the war, 

 and must necessarily be transient. The importance of 

 the establishment of an iron and steel industry in 

 .South Africa transcends that of every other industry ; 

 South Africa can never hope to become a machinery 

 manufacturing country without it. We have the raw 

 materials in coal and ore, but inarkets will have to 

 be created to keep such an industry going continuously, ■ 

 as it must of necessity do. The Government can help 

 by assisting in the initial stages, and it is to be 

 feared that without some direct special assistance the 

 prospects are remote. But it can also help indirectly 

 through the railways. A guarantee of Government 

 contracts, at any rate in the initial stages, should 

 surely induce a flow of capital for such an important 

 national industry. A glance at the imports for 1916 

 shows that, during that year, iron and steel to the 

 value of nearly one and a quarter millions sterling, and 

 machinery to the value of two and one-eighth millions 

 sterling, were imported into the Union. 



How colossal an iron and steel industry may become 

 is shown by the fact that the output of the United 

 States Steel Corporation reached in 1916 the huge 

 total of nearlv fifteen and a half million tons. 



A successful experimental plant, constituting the 

 first electric furnace in South Africa, was erected by 

 the Chamber of Mines during the past year for making 

 steel castings (shoes and 'dies) from scrap metal, and 

 the manufacture of bar iron, etc., from scrap metal 

 has been carried on for some years in the Transvaal. 

 Such industries have been referred to as "bastard" in- 

 dustries ; primary industries utilising the raw materials 



