Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-08-22
Conditions In TranSyaal.

New York, Aug. 22.-J. A. Regain, an
expert mining engineer, who for the past
| year and a half has been making a care
full study Of mining and governmental
conditions of the Transvaal, is now in
this city. The prospect of war with
England, Mr.. Regain says, at the time he
left johannesburg a few weeks ago, was,
according to the native Beers. very
slight. 1t vas expected by them that a
compromise would be reached. The for
eign element, however. earnestly hoped
that it will come, for in it they see future
prosperity.
american sympathy may be naturally
with the young republic" said Mr.. Re-
gan, but republic as applied to the
Transvaal, is a misnomer. Chief JUS
tice Kotze, recently deposed. told Dom
Paul, when asked about a certain matter,
that it was unconstitutional. whereupon
Dom Paul promptly cut off his official
head and placed on the bench an inno-
cent old individual whose ideas Of the
proper administration Of justice was TO
be in line with the president. With the
departure of Kotze there departed all
hope of justice upon the part of the Uit-
landera There are three questions that
engage diplomatic a~ttention-that Of the
franchise, probably the most important;
ways. Until quite recently a man to
hold Office must have resided in the
Transyaal for IA years and be at the
same time a member Of the Dutch
church. The Uitlanders hope for reforms
through the franchise. In regard to dy-
Mantle. it has been the policy OF the gov
eminent to grant an exclusive fran
ohise to a Holland and German syndi-
cate to make dynamite, the Importation
being illegal. They demand for 1t Is shil-
lings a case. An American firm offered
to lay it down in the Transvaal in UNI
- -,.- ~ Az chi11tnnc n n1Cn
of so pounds. The mining industry uses
about 400, OCO cases annually. Tha means
a loss Of $3,0 o 600 to the miners. The
profit is too low to warrant working
many low-grade ore mines. n Neither
lands Railway company holds the ex-
elusive right to bui1d and construct rail-
ways and also to fix it's w rates. 1t
charges from 8 to Is cents per mile per
ton for freight. Most of the mining ma
chinery is brought from Chicago. The
haul from Vernigning to johannesburg,
a distance of about 80 or 40 miles, is
more expensive than the freight rates
from Chicago to New York, about 900
miles.
.There are about $4,000 blacks there.
They walk from 500 to 800 miles to reach
the mines. They are forced to purchase
| a kind of badge, or dog collar and wear
it, in addition to paying the government
so cents a month. If they lose the dog
collar or fail to pay the monthly tax
they are usually given Is lashes and i'm
prisoned a couple of months. The gold
fields of the Transvaal are not found in
rich deposits, as is thought, but their
valus lies in the great quantity of low
grade, free-milling ore, with an average
of $10.40 per ton. The cost of production
is about S. per ton. Capital is at pres
ent wary, but if England succeeds in get
ting the reforms the big PUSHES to the
gold fields of California in 1S49 and to
Colorado later would be nothing in COM
parison. So sure are the present mines
i'm their output that in England those
who have control of trust money and
Estates are investing in them. Although
the Beers do not anticipate war, yet while
on my way home l spent several weeks
in England, and from what I could learn
there, active preparations are being made
for war with the Transvaal."