The Conquest of the Desert 



under this Act the Minister may offer holdings 

 to applicants from oversea through the High 

 Commissioner in London. 



None will deny that here at least is a vast 

 empty land. But it is often said that South 

 Africa is not ripe for settlement. It is not so. 

 Every farmer knows that the maladies which 

 attack his crops and his herds can best be 

 checked and conquered by the wire fence of 

 Closer Settlement, the cleansing dip, and the 

 poison spray. But, again, it is often said that 

 South Africa is a hard country in which to farm 

 in comparison with other lands. It is not so. 

 For who that knows Western America, from 

 practical experience, will deny that farming on 

 the American prairie is a harder task than 

 farming on the veld ? And so, in this fina 

 chapter, I would appeal to our own people — 

 the British race — to come to South Africa. 



At the same time let us not forget that 

 although mainly colonised by the Dutch and 

 the English peoples, South Africa has been 

 enriched by the blood streams of other European 

 settlers from the French Huguenot to the 

 modern German — all of whom the Southern 

 Mother is slowly moulding in the mills of her 

 Imperial destiny. 



196 



