The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1915-07-06
s1OO.OOO,OOO IN GOLD
GUARDED IN AFRICA
COMING FROM TP2 INES AT
% RATE OF FOURTEEN Il, ZION
DOLLARS A NOM i
FIFTY MILLION IN DIAMO'>
=, safe WAY to Ship Gold and Jewels
rondon, and How to Guard the
T,,oasure From German Attack Is
Problem That Vexes.


Problem That Vexes.
NEW YORK.-A Washington dis
.4ob 70 the World says that more
thor 500, 100000 in raw gold in
,..s together with $50,000,0O0 in
s.ont diamonds, are piled up in Brit
i.b South Africa awaiting safe trans
.or+ IN London, it is reported to the
,.nor+ment of commerce by United
Gates consuls in that part of the
Dark Continent.
The raw gold is accumulating at
.bo South African banks at the rate of
$4,000 900 a month. How to guard
.,is vast store of treasure from pos
sib,e German attack is one of the
,,obIoms which vexes the TransVaal
government.
Prior to nostiiities the gold was
cbiDped fortnightly to London by sea.
The late Cecil Rhodes dream of a
caDe-to-Cairo railroad is not yet an
( .rcomplished fact, though most of the
land links are completed. A large
mart of the route, even when in full
oneration. will be on rivers and lakes
in East Africa; and from Cairo the
road has no means of communication
with Europe save through Egypt and
territory in possession of or else
claimed by Turkey, which is at war
with Great Britain.
Mines Kept Open.
At the outbreak of the conflict an
4 Arrangement was made by which the
mines in British South Africa were
kent open and their gold was deliver
ed, as produced, to the local banks at
johannesburg and elsewhere, and
there assayed in bars and put in the
vaults
Schedules of the bars, with certifi-
Gates of assay, we're sent to the Union
] of South African government, which
assumed responsibility as to the val
! ne, the amount of which was cabled
B to the High Commissioner of the I'm
%ion in London. Under his guarantee
+ the Bank of England advanced to the
3 London offices of the South African
banks 81 per cent of the value of the
u gold, which was held by the latter
Il in the name of the union government
8 to the order of the Bank of England.
In this way the financing of the
mines has been kept up to normal,
both as to working costs and divi-
dends, thus enabling them to go
ahead as usual. The net result, so
far as concerns the Bank of England,
is that the bank has $10O,O00,000 or
so of reserve gold" without actu-
ally having either the gold or any
immediate prospect of getting it.
Diamond Output.
The output of diamonds in the
South African Union in 1914 was
$26,S28,7O0 as against s5S,478,40O
in 1913. In addition South Rhode
STA produced $9,046 in diamonds.
Practically all of these stones were
dug before the middle of last Au-
gust, for when the war began there
was a general closing down of the
Premier Diamond Mine in the Trans
yaaI, the De Beers mines at Kimberly
and others in the Transvaal and Or
ange Free State. This put out of
employment hundreds of white men
and thousands of blacks and further
depressed trade by stopping the i'm
portation of mining materials and
stores.
SS,OOO,000 of Unpicked Feathers.
Inc war has paralyzed the South
african feather export trade. More
'nan $I800,000 of this years feath-
CTS are unplucked and there was an
equal loss last year. The ostrich, for
merry the most pampered homestead
Gu olrd in the world, has come to be
ueSplsed and neglected. Thousands
nave been dying from lack of food
ana attention and breeding practical
y mas ceased. Two years ago fancy
male ostriches were valued up to
SIVVOO each. They were as costly
as prize bulls. Today they fetch no
Price.
Inc African ostrich feather col
.epSe Is partly due to foreign compe-
..On and to changes in women's fash
IN all of British South Africa the
D.'e population is about 1850, goo,
@Io there are 100000 natives, of
"non only 100000 are classed as
zcivilized