The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1891-02-05
IN S0UTB AFRICA.
The Country Rapidly Becoming Agri-
cultural.

JoHASyEsBURG. Dec. 1, 1890.

| elephants, Eirafes. quaggas,
| n n etc. Ocean going steamers
| n A4s-,E}~z-I lcalI at all its ports from Cape
| 49, ~ Town 10 the mouths of the
! n S:cAssS-S Zambesi. The Iron BOad
/ has, after many years of slow
! w. progress commenced its con-
quering route into the interior from four points.
! The Cape Town line to Kimberley is now al
/ most 100 miles north of the latter town, and IN
/ a month or two will be at Mafeking, further
! inland than Livingstone Mission Station,
! which at the time was thought to be in the
midst of the wild beasts of the forest only.
| The second line from the Orange River to
| BoemfoHteu, the Capital OF the Orange Free
| State, is now finished, and will be opened with
| great ceremony on the 18th of December. This
line is TO be brought northward TO the Vaal
| River at once, where it will connect with the
railway lines Of the South African Republic
which are now being constructed in and around
| Pretoria and Johannesburg, which will eventu-
| ally connect the railway from Delagoa Bay with
| those of the Cape Colony.
railway already runs from the eoalfelds TO
the east Of the goldfeId of Witwaters to the
| gold mines, and i6 miles are now open to
| traffic; while the line OF 81 miles is now being
made TO Pretoria from here, and small portion
! tsome 10 miles, has Just been let for go, 400,
/ OF the line TO the Yaal River, which will join
/ the line from BlOemfontein there.
OF the line from Delagoa Bay TO Pretoria
| nearly 100 miles are now under construction
] in this State but the progress is not such as
/ il would be had the line been put in the hands
| Of either American or English engineers. The
| Natal line from Durham has now arrived at the
| Iransvaal boundary, and is consequently only
| $50 miles from Pretoria, and if il had not leen
that the Dutch farmers feared the railway
| would have deprived them of the only living
/ they undertake with pleasuTe-viz, transport
/ driving with nine yoke OF oxen-a railway
| through the Trausyaal would have been an
accomplished fact long ere this.
Railways are not the only sign Of progress.
! Telegraph wires are now traversing many parts
| of South Africa; the number of stations in the
| Transvaal must have doubled during the last
i 2i months; tho energetic Premier Of the Cape
Colony has pushed in the telegraph as far as the
hacluutss River, the south of Matabeleland
| and past Khamas capital near ShOshnng. The
/ deep sea lines are now all round the coasts,
| aud IL is possible that Madagascar and Mauri-
! titus will soon be joined TO the rest Of the globe
with PuGk's grdle.
If the number Of newspapers was a sign Of
progress, South Africa would stand well with
! the rest Of the world but they are but puny
/ specimens OF the fourth estate. The Cdpe Times,
! published IN Cape Town, has the largest daily
circulation and that only reaches 1000. The
/ best papers for those interested in South
African affairs, but located in other parts Of
the world, are the weeklies. Cape Argus, Cape
/ ~.
/ the star, Of johannesburg. The average cir
| culation Of South African papers is / fear,
/ under 1000 copies. Twelve months ago seven
/ daily papers struggled for an existence in
Johannesburg four morning and three even
| ing, but this number has now fallen of 10 two
morning aud one evening paper, and / expect
10 see the two morning papers collapse ere
| long.
Many Of the old Dutch colonists are striving
TO have Dutch become the chief language in
| this part Of the world, but the struggle is per-
fecily hopeless for several reasons; the chief
Il being that the Dutch as spoken by ordinary
| farmers, is not that Of the inhabitants Of HOl-
land, aud they understand an English news
| paper or letter as we'll or better than Dutch
| one.
Even the newspaper In Cape Town, fiji
EanHisch Patriot, is written and printed in
| this Kitchen or Cape Dutch. but besides
! this there is no literature in the Cape
natois. To give an idea Of how the languages
are divided, the present daily, tri-weekly and
weekly newspapers Z South Africa are. ap-
| proximately, 44 printed in English, % IN Eng
lish aud Dutch, one in English and Kafir,
one in German, one in Zulu, IL i'm Dutch.
OF these there are II English dailes aud not
one Dutch. Over aud above this prepOnder-
ance Of local English periodicals, the illus
| tratcds such rs the Graphic, the Illustrated L0H-
don Ner,, HaTpeTs Illustrated and others may
!
| land. There is 10 doubling what the final re-
suit will be. Immigration, too, is assisting in
| OustiRg the Dutch language. rs the immigrants
are almost entirely from the British Isles. Al.
| though spasmolc effort is occasionally made
| 10 encourage either Dutchmen or Belgians TO
| try these lands IL never amounts 10 much.
There Will be a steady shaking Of the old
homes in the Cape Colony, now that the
Herr Cecil Rhodes Is Premier, an energetic,
far-seeiug engineer. who made his most i'm
pOrtant step in life by inauguratng the ANAL
gamation Of the Little Diamond Mine at Kim
berley into one huge company. Encouragement
Is being given 10 farming and diamond drills
are being sunk all over the country to find
| water.
The lazy farmers who have till now only eul-
tivated enough soil to find themselves and
| families with food, trusting 10 their transport
| riding charges for cash TO buy clothes, pro-
| visions and such luXuTies rs they found neces-
sary, will have TO grow corn and provisions for
sale, as their transport riding will soon fail
| them.
The tax these transport rates have been will
be plain TO you when / mention that l6s. and
LIS. per every 100 pounds weight from Kim
| berley to Johannesburg have been considered
very reasonable figures As every piece OF tim
ber required for house building has been i'm
ported from Sweden or Norway, you can calcu-
late for yourself what the cost Of house building
| has been.
Although our gold mines arc not to be de-
spised, the output will soon be $4,000 ounces
| a month. aud is now 5000. any great increase
on the former figures do not expect from
| Witwatersrand While gold is distributed all
over the country. no really payable field has yet
been discovered, save here and at BarbertOn.
Agriculture, not mining, will soon be the
backbone Of South Africas wealth If a rail-
way was built to WalGsch Bay grain could be
landed in London or New York in II DAYS
from the time it left the uplands Of the Trans
yaal; aud when your population has become
too dense 10 export grain 20 Europe South
Africa will be able 10 step into the breach aud
provide both the Old World and the New World
with the necessities of life
will have 10 reserve for another letter the
homily that the absurd boom in gOld-miuing
shares in Johannesburg must call forth.
Out OF hundreds OF mines that have been
started, fear not fifty will ever pay expenses.
aud probably not p dividends Anyone who
knows what little value land that contains
quartz reefs is 10 its owner, unless he has
money 10 erect machinery thereon, would
stand aghast at the sums offered To farmers for
mining on their farms when small color Of
gold was found in the paintings. Twenty
thousand pounds was considered quite "A low
figure. The promoters then asked 10000 for
getting the land, aud the company was prob
ably made up as follows:
Farmer cnsh-..... f2O OC0
| Promoters, cHsh..--..-...-... 5000
DO. share. 1000