The evening times., 1900-01-19

| Kimberley. which lies well at the north OF
Cape Colony territory and Immediately ad-
jacent TO the territory of the Orange Free
, State. The total expectation Of rough dia-
monds from Cape Colony from 1887 to 1887
is stated at GSS.3ll, ,oS7. These mines en-
ploy large numbers of people, the importa-
! tion Of articles required by them and the
! expectation of products of the mines mostly
| passing through Cape Town. the chief city
OF the colony.
In addition TO this. a large share of the
/ supplies for the 40 eco TO 80 eco people en-
! gagged in gold mining in the Transvaal en-
| ter Africa at Cape Town and are conveyed
! 10 Johannesburg by the railroad which
connects that place with Cape Town. while
/ the expectation OF gold is also made by the
same route.
The foreign commerce Of Cape Colony is
| therefore large. including. as il does the
| bulk Of the supplies intended for the
I greatest gold and diamond mines of the
world Kimberley. and johannesburg. and
indeed, a considerable proportion OF the
supplies Of the Orange Free State and
South African Republic. popularity known
as the Transyaal
The total Importation of merchandise
in 1897 is given as E16 400 739.
of this amount the value OF e13 429,-
600 was subject to duty. Importations
have grown rapidly, being in 1898 60
$50. 500. in 1895. GI3 2S5. .005. and in 1897,
as already Indicated Sic 40, 73g OF the
imports Of 1897, which were valued at
SIC. 400, I3e a total of G12 S3g27I was
from the United Kingdom, eSS3 233 from
other British possessions. and .374
from other countries very large pro-
portion of which was from the United
States, the goods of which are rapidly
gaining in popularity in those parts of
the world and increasing in quantity and
value imported.
ImportatiOns From America.
The importations from the United
States. according to the British Statistical
Abstract for Colonial and other Possess
sions, have been as follows: In 1856. e99,-
500; in 1890, e2S2. .O22: in 1898. e494. .S54:
in 1895. GS73,420: in 1896. el, 739. .053 and
in 1897. e2,097. 495. thus increasing the
importation from the United States from
SiS6, 1872 in value in 1856 to SO. .207. .45S in
1897.
The United States Consul at Cape
Town reports the importation for 1898 as
SS0,S90. .252 n value. and Sl1SS3. .355 in
transit for other states OF this to-
tai Importation of $50. $40. .252 in 1898 ma
chinery amounted to 5.20S III: cotton
manufactures. s.. sos 469: haberdashery
and millinery, $6,213727; hardware and
cutlery, S4.514.3 337; leather and its manu-
factures. s2.S61. 720; clothing 81. sos 962;
carriages. SlO76.742; drugs and chemicals
Sl,5lO, ,036; furniture, 81 72O 2IO; corrugated
iron, $1.05l. .392; wood and its manufac-
lures, s2.551,940; wooden manufactures,
81, 1922, and stationary. including print
ing paper. l,4SS.044
The exports of Cape Colony including
as they do large proportion of the prod
acts of the gold and diamond mines lying
al the north, are very large. and by far
exceed the imports. They are given by
the United States Consul as e25.-
31S.701. in 1898. as compared with
81, 2l0 in 1897 OF the exports the
bulk is gold and diamonds, the figures
for 1897 being: Gold, unrefined, 6 10. .g9I.-
S26, and diamonds, G4.454376, while the
other exports in the order of their import
ance were. wool. 81 .496,T79; hair (Angora).
e616,644: ostrich feathers. e6O5, ,O5S; hides, |
&5l4l67, and copper, s300,7T2.
Naturally, with the enormous business
consequent upon the most successful gold
and diamond mines of the world and the
large productions OF the agricultural in
dustries, the carrying and general business
facilities of Cape Colony has rapidly in
creased. In 1899 there were about 5000
miles Of railway and nearly 1000 miles OF |
Telegraph open IN the Colony. OF the |
railways. in January, 1899 1000 miles We're
owned and operated by the government
while there were 653Amiles of privately
ownsd railway operaISd by the govern |
ment, and 1S3 miles privately owned and |
worked, in addition to which 343 miles |
were under construction
THE telegraph lines in operation in 1898 |
were given as $500 miles. railway now |
extends from Cape Town to Kimberley /
and thence to Bulawayo, in British South |
Africa, or Rhodesia, distance of 1850 |
miles, the entire length being in British |
territory. while a connecting line extends |
through the Orange Free State to Pretoria. /
the capital of the South African Republic |
tTrapsvaaD. whence line runs east |
wardly TO Lourenco Marques. in Portu
guese territory ON the Indian Ocean.
The number of vessels entering the /