The Conquest of the Desert 



thoughts that arise in our mind, touching the 

 larger problem of closer settlement along the 

 banks of the Orange River. 



We have spoken of the noble work of the 

 founders of the Kakamas Labour Colony. But 

 the Church must not forget that the searchlights 

 of modern science and the new agriculture are 

 now upon her. She holds in trust from the 

 nation the richest land in South Africa. It is 

 badly tilled, unused, rank, and foul with noxious 

 weeds. She owns a bare and treeless square 

 where her children pass and play in the scorch- 

 ing heat of noonday. What the Kakamas 

 Colony needs is instant expert advice. 



At the time of our visit there was no com- 

 petent farm manager, no one to teach the 

 settlers how to grow tobacco, how to lay down 

 lucerne, how to prune their Orchards, fumigate 

 their orange-trees, or call a halt to the criminal 

 waste of water and the consequent ruination 

 of the land. To-day in many parts of South 

 Africa men are toiling to win a bare livelihood 

 on a foot of shallow soil, and when we think of 

 the deep, rich lands of Kakamas we remember 

 the parable of the hidden talent set down in 

 the 25th chapter of the Gospel of St Matthew. 



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