TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 483 
in a declining condition through the competition of dumped goods from abroad. 
Tt is asserted that the relative amount of goods dumped into Great Britain, com- 
pared with the volume of the home production of similar goods, is an almost 
negligible percentage ; which might be expected, considering that dumping involves 
such losses to those having recourse to it that its extent is bound to be, com- 
paratively speaking, very limited. 
The full effect of dumping is brought out by reflecting upon the train of 
consequences which would be set up if an international combination against 
England were established by the other great producing nations for the purpose of 
dumping into England all those classes of commodities which she now produces, 
with the view of destroying her industries. The conclusion is that the balance 
of the advantages of dumping rests entirely in favour of the purchasing country. 
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30. 
The following Papers were read :— 
1. The Cost of Living on the Rand. By A. ArKen. 
2. The Study of Economics in South Africa. By A. 8. Kipp. 
The object of this paper was to show how little encouragement. has been 
given to the study of economics in South Africa in the past, and at the same 
time to call attention to some of the many interesting topics peculiar to South 
African life which deserve investigation. Mconomics has been, comparatively 
speaking, neglected by the university and colleges of this country. Our civil 
servants and politicians have had no training in the science. Private students 
have been few and their output small. The South African Association for the 
Advancement of Science has in a way laid the foundation-stone of a South A frican 
School of Economics, but there is a great need for encouragement and develop- 
ment. There arg, in addition to the most obvious economic problems of South 
Africa, many others of an interesting nature—for example, the future of the native 
artisan, the local markets, and the cost of living in various localities. 
Two subjects of great interest in Cape Colony are the history of taxation and 
the history of our imports and exports, both of which subjects would repay careful 
investigation. Materials for the study of such questions are, unfortunately, inac- 
cessible to many would-be students ; nevertheless, much might be done in certain 
centres. As regards the study of statistics in general, the student has to face 
many difficulties, and official publications have in the past been somewhat un- 
satisfactory in method. The establishment of an Inter-Colonial Bureau of Trade 
Statistics is in sight, the creation of which will probably bring about an improve- 
ment. Some of the social problems that are most pressing in the homelands are 
here conspicuous by their absence ; others, however, will have to be faced in these 
colonies. The visit of the British Association will, it is hoped, among its other 
effects, produce a greater interest in economics in South Africa. 
3. What is Credit? By Francis W. Buxton, 1A. 
. The author feared that such an abstract question was hardly suitable to 
Johannesburg, but under the circumstances had no option. 
The ‘loan fund of the State,’ as Bagehot calls it, used formerly to consist 
of cattle, and not of capital, as now understood. ‘Cattle’ and ‘capital’ are 
etymologically the same word. Sir H. Maine in ‘ Early Institutions’ describes a 
condition of Irish society which was based on the lending by the chief of his herd 
of cattle to his villeins for services rendered. By ‘taking stock’ the free Irish 
tribesman became the vassal of his chief. 
Ir? 
