Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-11-29
rears much consists Of the pay due the


army and debts to contractors.
The indirect cost has been estimated
and the result Is highly interesting. In
September last the shrinkage in value
of the full list of securities quoted on
the London stock exchange had, as a
direct consequence of the war, reached
the enormous figure of nearly $780,
100000. The decline in the market
value of consols alone has been serious
and the fall has been equally marked
in municipal stocks and railway and
other obligations. The increase to the
national debt with the additional tax
alton to meet the interest payments
has also to be taken into account. Then
there is the expense of the permanent
garrison, estimated at $4,000 men.
which will have to be kept up for an
undetermined period out OF the pocket
of the British taxpayer. for there is
no present visible source of revenue in
South Africa from which cost can be
raid.
But the matter does not end here.
The increase and the reorganization of
the army have to be provided for, mil
lions Will have to be spent in bringing
the stores of ammunition and other
war material up to the requirements OF
the new policy. Already orders for
SoU.OOO,O0O worth of new guns have been
placed to dc followed by others, the
VI NiiiNii iitS llOl SSN DSSl Qt-
cided on.
1t is not, however, in England only
mat the direct cost of the war is MAX
ing Itself felt by the taxpayers. The
shortage of revenue in Cape Colony this
year is estimated by the Minister of
FINANCE at not less than S12.915,0 900,
which he proposes to borrow, though
the reception which "A proposal to raise
a small loan in the London market a
lew months ago met does not seem to
encourage fresh applications in the
same quarter. In the nature of things
II Will he some years before the waste
and destruction worked by the war
have been made good. and meantime
the course of trade which in the past
was favorable to Cape Colony will take
other channels. Durham, in Natal, and
Lorenzo Marques are so much nearer
TO Bloemfontein and Pretoria than
Cape Town that supplies and traffic
may be expected to take the shorter
routes. This will affect the revenues of
Cape Colony derivable from the rail-
ways.
No boom is to be looked for after the
war is over. the sacrifices made by the
Cape farmers or imposed on them hav
ing been too great TO permit their
launching out into extravagancies of
any kind for long time to come The
reduction of the imperial expenditure
consequent on the withdrawal from the
country of the great portion of the
British army will cause a sudden re-
duction in the trade depending on it
ana bring about great curtailment of
the profits of those engaged in 1t and
on which they depend for their living
The latest accounts from the late Or
ange Free State describe II as reduced
almost to the condition of n desert, the
Boer homesteads in ruins and the
flocks and herds either carried off to
supply the wants of the army of occu-
patton or scattered over the veldt,
where they are Il prey to the wild
beasts that are making their appear
ance in considerable numbers as n re-
suit of the disappearance of the popu-
lation. The cessation of the produc-
ton of gold during the period OF the
war is also among the indirect losses
caused by 1t.