22 Mr. John Brown — 



bred of party changes of policy the Home Government met with 

 much condemnation, and the colonists were driven to wish for 

 self-government, which they hoped could at least make up its 

 mind to pursue one continuous policy. It was even said that 

 many who were on the English side in the war would now be on 

 the other, and it was maintained that the present Government 

 was more extravagant, costly, and full of red tape than even that 

 of the Boers was. The farmers and Boers seemed to think a 

 local Government would give them protective taxes, put heavier 

 taxes on the diamond mines, and they thought the Kaffirs should 

 be forced to work by some means. Some said by a heavier hut 

 tax, others by making them wear more clothes, which they would 

 have to earn money to buy ; others again by more forcible 

 measures. I gathered from those with whom I happened to speak 

 that Lord Milner was not approved of, was considered to have 

 been weak, extravagant in appointments, and inclined to favouritism. 

 By others some of these faults were attributed to the home 

 Government. Cecil Rhodes was the one man in the colony of 

 whom one always heard approval. 



Johannesburg is a red city ; the soil is red, the streets, the roofs, 

 even the trees are red from the red sand carried by the dust-storms, 

 to which it is subject. It has an unfinished, scattered look, very 

 poor roads, and an air of hurry and excitement like all mining 

 places. Ten of us were most hospitably entertained at Hohenheim, 

 the residence of Sir Percy Fitzpatrick. 



In Johannesburg the remainder of the President's address was 

 delivered, and a very good lecture by Professor Ayrton on electric 

 transmission of power. Speaking of Victoria Falls, he informed 

 them that in the dry season the amount of horse power available 

 was only one-tenth of that of Niagara, and he did not seem to 

 think extremely favourably of the chances of utilising its power at 

 Johannesburg, some 800 miles distant. He concluded, "Jealously 

 guard the beauty of your Falls. Niagara was glorious nature, 

 to day it is power ; Victoria is poetry." In a paper published 

 since the meeting, Mr. W. B. Essen disagrees with Professor 



