A General Survey and Summary of Events 179 



territory. With party Government in England, the 

 colonies never know what policy will be pursued ; 

 as everything is sacrificed to party. 



On April 4th, 1860 the district of Lydenburg (which 

 since 1857 had been an independent Republic) was 

 incorporated in the South African Republic, largely 

 owing to the influence that my father exercised 

 with the Lydenburg people. He became secretary 

 to the Government in 1860. On June 12th 1865, the 

 Republican Government issued paper money in notes 

 from 1/6 to 5 face value, but they were not backed 

 by any coin in the treasury, and were worth only 

 from 2/6 to 5/- in the 1. The issue continued to 

 1868, and the notes were signed by M. W. Pretorius, 

 State President, M. W. Viljoen, Member of the 

 Executive, and C. I. Joubert, Member of Commission, 

 H. v. d. Linden, Treasurer. They afterwards became 

 a forced legal tender at par ; to the ruin of 

 bond holders and merchants, and were ultimately 

 redeemed by the Cape Commercial Bank when 

 Mr. Burgers became President in 1872. These notes 

 were issued to redeem the " Maandaten " or Treasury 

 Bonds, after the Civil War of 1864. The Boers in 

 Potchefstroom and elsewhere, who owed bills for 

 coin (British currency), agitated for proclaiming 

 the notes a legal tender, and men who had been 

 given credit and extensions of time for years, rushed 

 off to pay their debts with this worthless paper. I 

 was a victim for what at that time, were to me, 

 considerable sums, and as the Cape Colonial mer- 

 chant would not accept the paper, many shopkeepers 

 were ruined. Many of these Boers, who were 

 well off, paid their debts at 2/6 in the 1, and thought 

 themselves clever. 



The Sekukuni and Zulu Wars undertaken to 

 protect the Transvaal in 1878 to 1879, cost Great 



