510 REPORT—1905. 
those previously referred to under the heading of ‘lagoons,’ and to the shoals 
which constitute bars to navigation, both at Lorencgo Marques and at the mouth 
of the bay. 
2. The Architectural Problem in South Africa. 
By Wiuu1am Lucas, £.R.GLS. 
Perhaps more closely than any other function of humanity is architecture 
bound up with the life of the race; and amid strenuously utilitarian demands and 
limitations its story is being written on South African soil. A few reminiscences of 
early settlement, the result of contact with the Dutch life of the seventeenth 
century, remain. Otherwise all is essentially modern, and a great deal of the 
earlier work is the joint product of professionals and laymen, 
With the exception of Johannesburg and Cape Town—which in a degree 
remind one of America —the phase of building is of British type, though expressing 
greater independence of thought. The absence of such educational institutions as 
Great Britain and America possess has some compensation in principals, staff, and 
pupils being brought into closer touch with building operations, and in practice 
being concentrated on more limited areas. 
The temper of semi-tropical environments reduces the need for the provisions 
that characterise the interiors of northern climes, though the fact of coloured 
domestic labour presents certain problems that have to be met, and especially in 
those latitudes with trying climates. The supreme demands are in the direction 
of tree planting ; a keen regard for the face of nature; sheltered coverings for the 
enjoyment of tempered sunshine, bracing breezes, and brilliant skies. 
With the ample resources at the disposal of South Africa in imported and 
local materials, and the scientific knowledge available, it is felt that there ought to 
be more extensive use of those that time and climate can enrich. While thankful 
for Bath and New Zealand stones, local stone should be far more in evidence, and 
design be of more tempered severity. The accepted and extensive use of cement 
stucco makes restraint—the most valuable quality in architectural composition— 
very difficult to observe. There are, however, indications of stern struggle 
against surface effect, and some few masterly compositions may be seen even in 
stucco. 
Unfortunately nepotism and social qualities—far more than is possible in older 
and more extensive communities—rather than merit have much to do with the 
character of South African architecture. The public buildings, however, are 
generally the results of open competition, and more fully express the possibilities 
of quality and the extent of ‘the force behind the hill’ panting for its oppor- 
tunity. 
3. Irrigation in South Africa. By C. D, H. Braine. 
4. The Copper Deposit of Little Namaqualand. By J. H. Ronaupson. 
