Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-03-03
SOUTH AFRlcA's BEST PORT
Its Advantages Have Been Lessened by
Portuguese Domination
Merchants Prefer to Send Their Goods
by the Longer Route Through Natal
-One Progressive Governor.
POultney BIgelow in the New York Times.

anu just HoW Strategic, importance to TWO
important facts: First, it is the nearest
port to the gold fields Of tho Transvaal;
secondly. It is far and away the best natu-
raj port In all South Africa Both these
advantages are neutralized by reason of
portuguese domination. SO that, as mat
ter OF fact, on the occasion of my visit
1s98 many merchants preferred to send
their goods by the longer route through
Natal, via Durham, merely because the
Delagoa route offered much risk by reason
OF rapacious. or at least very negligent,
management at the otherwise more IA
vored harbor. The first glimpse of Della
goa Bay made me feel that a successful
Jameson raid would be welcomed by even
the most orthodox of humanitarians If it
succeeded In expelling the present misrule
and placing in its stead the government
OF any respectable set of white people
am not here commencing piracy or bril-
ganaage In the abstract but call history
to witness that what We today call the
progress Of civilization has been largely
made up Of movements which might
roughly be iikened to substituting good
the neighborhood Of the Unrest port in
South Africa
Let me illustrate. On arrival at that beau
t.ful port we anchored in midstream and
were taken ashore in rowboats. Private
companies had over and over begged per
mission to erect at their own expense
wharves where vessels nigh load and un-
!oad with facility; but this eminently prac-
ticai, II not philanthropic. request had been
invariably refused because 1t might de-
prlVe the government of one more means
OF extracting bribes from merchants. AS 1
made my way from the landing sta ee to the
town it was through an accumulation of
merchandise which reminded me of goods
rescued In haste from a great lire or
some other disaster. Boxes were smashed
and stuff of The most incongruous descrip-
ton lay helter-skelter. as though dropped
from some mammoth grabbing. Imagine
the army and navy stores lifted in midair
and dropped upside down on the swampy,
sandy shores of tropical port-rhere you
nave the custom house Of Delagoa Bay un-
der Portuguese rule. Distracted merchants
or forwarding agents wandered amidst the
ruins OF what had been valuable ships
cargo, hunting for the goods for which
they waved the bills Of lading in their
weary fingers. Here lay bag Of lime; be-
meath was sack of rice. Their contents
might have regarded as discouraging. Del1-
cate electrical plant destined for a johann
nesburg mine lay scattered in the open
while In the heavy sand were countless
all rendered valueless to the men of can't
tai and brain waiting in vain for them at
the end OF the railway. Barrels of treacle
were leaking into goods marked ITO be
church organs. clothing. blankets furni-
ture, tfnware and crockery-all were knock
ing about in the open air. not merely at
the mercy of rain, but of thieves in and
outside of the official lines.
When l speak of Delagoa Bay as a pes
tferouS port, l mean that 1t is so today
because of bad administration The Portu-
guese government has done nothing for the
colony beyond what might be expected of
any band of pirates, and mighty short
sighted pirates at that. The natives are
debauched by the sale Of "firewater," and
the government encourages this because it
DringS in certain amount Of
There Is, of collse, Portuguese COVER
nor at DelagOa Bay, a fort an army of
petty negroids-ofhcials about as big as
Filipinos, and with ancestry about as am
biguous. l was shown maps of the colony
which indicated splendid parks, avenues
embankments. plazas and other adjuncts
of a metropolis. None of these things exist
ed excepting on official paper intended for
the public of Lisbon. In 1896 there were
dirty streets and shabby houses two or
three vile hotels. and drinking BOOTH
near which the little military band made
music on occasion-and this was called the
promenade. There was no such thing as a
public conveyance to be had-not even
"jlnrikisha"
There was once noble and progressive
governor at DelagOa Bay who was shocked
by the number Of accidents to ships enter
ing the port. He succeeded in securing a
l1ghtship to mark the channel. This was
80 radical and 80 Violent a reform for a
Portuguese governor that some suspected
his sanity. But, on the contrary, he proved
to be very sane and businesslike man
for Portuguese. Indeed, so businesslike
was he that he employed this lightship
during the day in carrying bricks, and in
that way earned a considerable addition
10 his salary. Malicious critics pretend
that he used IL for private purposes at
night as web. but that is not founded on
satisfactory evidence. 1t would have been
better had he done so. however, for SO ig-
norant were those in charge that the
lIghtship was each night anchored in a
different part Of the bay. Incoming ves-
sells soon came to dread this erratic light
ship more than they did the perils of the
deep, and 1t was the cause Of more acct
dents than were ever known before 1t was
invented. 1t shows US. however that now
and then Portugal produces governor
who means well. though he may have &C.
centric ways Of showing It,