The evening times., 1898-09-30
EUROPEANS IN AFRICA.
Information Submitted by fhe Brif-
ish Embassy.

in tropical regions. that the following
report on the German colonies in Africa
by the secretaries of the British embassy
at Berlin, which has just been received
by the Treasury bureau of statistics, is
especially timely. The German colonies in
Africa are located from three to twelve
degrees north and south from the equa-
tor, the climatic conditions and products
thus being sufficiently similar to those of
Porto Rico, Cuba. Hawaii and the Phil
ippines to lend especial interest to ex-
periments now in progress under the di-
rection of the German government, as
detailed in the report, as follows:
THE number of resident Europeans in
German Africa in January, 1897, was D.
9l3,, of whom 2,lS2 were Germans. The
military force consisted of 962 German
officers and men, and about 2,05o colored
soldiers, besides the police force.
THE area of the German possessions
in Africa is given as S205iS square miles.
THE expense to the home government
was estimated for 1888 at G46l,0O
sterling, and f17,OO0 sterling deficit car
ried over from 1885, 90. This is in
! crease of e59.000 sterling over the state
subsidy granted last year. East Africa
receives E26000 sterling less. and South
west Africa ESQ, 900 sterling more than i'll
the last colonial budget, mainly owing
| 30 the grants for the Swakop Railway,
/ the Improvement of Swakop harbor, and
! the increased expense of the armed force.
1T will be seen from a comparison of
! the area and the European population
| that yet the colonies are, like those
! of all other nations in the same latitudes.
| plantation and not settlement colonies.
| In this respect the year 1897 Is of good
| augury for the future of the colonies.
! From every quarter comes evidence of
the remarkable progress of the planta-
| tions in Togoland and the Cameroons and
! East Africa. In East Africa there are at
present twenty-nine plantations, with
capital of G700,0O0 sterling. In the Cam
eroons there are ten, and in Togoland
six plantations. The success OF these
undertakings which. judging by the fire.
quent foundation of new companies. ap
| pears TO be assured, is due chiefly 10
! the government experimental gardens,
which are conducted by trained officials.
under instructions from the central botan-
| cai station in Berlin. From these sta
tions seedlings are supplied to European
! planters and 10 native chiefs. There is
| every reason to suppose that the products
! of the colonies. especially coffee, cocoa
! nuts and cacao and also possibly India
rubber, will rapidly increase. Particulars
will be in the appended detailed reports.
LAS to another and more important
/ side to the colonial question, the posi-
bility Of establishing settlements of Ger
| man farmers, the answer is not yet
so decisively in the affirmative. It ap-
pears proven that in one district OF East
Africa-West Usambara-that 300 or 100
European families could support them
selves by farming, in a healthy and tenn
| perate climate, and under conditions not
! unlike those existing in Germany. In ad-
dition TO this district there is large ter
rftory. Uhehe. in East Africa, northeast
of lake Nyassa, where. in >he opinion of
the governor. IL Will be possible to eS-
tablish large agricultural settlements OF
European farmers.
In Southwest Africa the southern dis
trict is extremely dry; but water stor-
age has been tried with success, and
where facilities exist for constructing
dams there is little doubt that there. as
in Western Canada. it will be found prof
liable TO grow wheat, or at any rate
pasture. In the central district compa-
ny is in formation with the object of es-
tabfshing considerable colony of Ger
man farmers round an artificial lake. The
government is paying great attention to
the land question and it is evident that
I confluence Is Itft iildI DIT ledSl SDtflt dS
ricultural colonies will be established be-
fore long. More than 100 European farm
erS are already settled in the colony.
The great want is European women. as
is always the case in similar stages OF
colonial development The climate cam
not be considered hopeless from the ag-
ricultural point of view-the rainfall OF
Windoek last year having been over
twenty inches. 1t is, however. subject to
great variations.
The relations of the governments with
the natives have been on the whole good
Two difficult campaigns, one in the south
west of East Africa, the other in the
ncrth of Southwest Africa We're success
fully concluded. The labor question APP
pears to be solved in East Africa where
tribes have been found willing and able
to work The same may be said of the
Cameroons, but in TogoIand it appears
that the demand is not fully met. The
government has issued severe restrictions
on the employment of labor with view
| to protect the natives from abuses In
the CameroonS ii has steadily set its face
against forced labor, and il appears with
success, the natives now seem TO come
in for employment of their own accord
The statistics of trade in the African
colonies are as follows: Total imports
1.u1,000 pounds sterling; total exports
/ 0ii,alS DOuTOS SltTllIlS. vi IHlS a. per cent
is with Germany. Great Britain and her
possessions have a large share in the
trade of the German colonies. Almost all
of the exports of Southwest Africa went
to England, and quarter of the imports
came from British territory. Nearly half
the goods imported into East Africa came
from India. and the greater part of the
exports went to Zanzibar for transship-
| ment.
1T will be seen by an examination OF
still in the condition of an investment
which is not yet paying full interest. Thi:
is due to the large sums now being ex
pended on the plantations in which the
trees have not yet begun to bear. 1t will
be necessary to wait some years before
final judgment is possible as to the sue
; cess of the experiment.
Two treaties have been concluded o.
great Importance to the colonial interest:
of Germany; that with France settling the
eastern and northern boundaries of Togo
land, and assuring that colony an excel
! lent trade route on the eastern side; ant
that with China, transferring the por
of kiau-Chow TO Germany.
From the general point of view, per
haps the most important fact recorded il
) this report is the eXaminatio ton by DIR
Koch into the nature of tropical malaria
1t is malaria and not the heat which
makes Africa so dangerous a place O
residence and so hard for Europeans t.