428 CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 



to these are the stamp duties, water taxes, house taxes, auction duties, 

 market duties, tithes on wine and grain, in short, on every thing that is 

 sold ; all papers executed, transfers of property, promissory notes, bonds, 

 and licenses of all kinds; indeed, it would be difficult to mention any 

 thing exempted from the all-pervading taxation which here prevails. 

 On inquiring the cost of articles, it is invariable to account for the 

 price, by adding that the article is taxed. The people are even taxed 

 for permission to leave the colony ; and I was told it was necessary to 

 pay a tax to take a bath. 



The whole revenue raised amounts to £130,000, and the expendi- 

 tures do not exceed £125,000. 



In order to lessen the weight of the taxation, it was in agitation at 

 the time of our visit, to increase the duties on imports, which are about 

 three per cent, ad valorem, on English articles, and ten per cent, on 

 foreign goods. 



The circulation is a paper one of the denomination of rix-dollars, 

 valued at one shilling and six-pence. There are no notes less than 

 twelve rix-dollars, equal to a pound. The monetary concerns of the 

 colony have undergone many vicissitudes, and numerous experiments 

 have been made, all tending to produce a want of confidence. Govern- 

 ment, until within a few years, had the entire control of the discount 

 banks, and through them possessed a full knowledge of the affairs of 

 men in business, and it is said did not fail to use it in an arbitrary 

 manner, producing revulsions in the monetary affairs of the colony that 

 were highly prejudicial to the commercial community, causing much 

 distress, and in some cases ruin, of which many feel the effects to this 

 day. 



This state of things gave rise to the establishment of banks exclu- 

 sively under the control of private individuals: there are two of these 

 corporations, bearing the title of the " Cape of Good Hope Bank," with 

 a capital of £70,000, and the " South African Bank," whose capital 

 amounts to £100,000; the capital of each is all paid in, and no part 

 of it can be withdrawn. The latter is not a bank of issue. A general 

 statement of their affairs is annually made to the proprietors. Interest 

 is paid on deposits remaining longer than a certain specified time. 

 Inviolable secrecy is observed with regard to individual accounts, and 

 each person connected with the institution signs a promise to that 

 effect. These banks afford every facility within the bounds of pru- 

 dence to those dealing with them, even carrying the spirit of accommo- 

 dation so far as to keep early hours for the benefit of the agriculturists 

 who frequent the market. 



This new system is found to work admirably, and pays handsome 



