SOUTH AFRICA AND THE
TRANSVAAL WAR
[Illustration: A STOCK FARM.
After a Photo in the Natal Government Collection, by permission.]
SOUTH AFRICA
AND THE
TRANSVAAL WAR
BY
LOUIS CRESWICKE
AUTHOR OF "ROXANE," ETC.
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS
VOL. VIII
SOUTH AFRICA AND ITS FUTURE
EDITED BY
LOUIS CRESWICKE
MANCHESTER: KENNETH MACLENNAN
75 PICCADILLY
PREFACE--VOL. VIII.
Everyone who has followed the story of the War in South Africa from
start to finish will assuredly have acquired a keen and lasting interest
in the land which has been won by the expenditure of so much blood and
treasure. Earnestly will he discuss in his mind all questions connected
with the development of the New Dominions of the King, and vigilantly
will he watch every action of the Government in regard to them.
In order rightly to estimate the difficulties to be overcome and the
issues to be hoped for, and to follow these questions with complete
apprehension, it is necessary to be familiar with their aspect in every
possible light. To this end, the Editor has invited the co-operation of
various well-known Authorities, each of whom has kindly contributed his
opinion on matters coming within his special experience.
The Publishers claim, therefore, that in this Volume is collected the
cream of modern thought, furnished at first-hand by those whose mastery
of their subject, and whose interest in the Empire, render them
competent to instruct in the intricacies of the South African problems,
with which for some time to come we must stand face-to-face. That these
writers do not on all points entirely agree is a matter for
congratulation, as readers are thus enabled to view the political
panorama from every reasonable standpoint, and weigh the pros and cons
of their arguments with perspicuity and without prejudice.
At the present juncture, when Mr. Chamberlain, the greatest of Colonial
Secretaries, is visiting South Africa, the Publishers are convinced that
this Volume is the most valuable book on the new Colonies that has yet
been offered to the Public.
CONTENTS--VOL. VIII.
PAGE
EMIGRATION 1
By His Grace THE DUKE OF ARGYLL, P.C., K.T.; Author of
"Imperial Federation," "The Life and Times of Queen Victoria," &c.
SOUTH AFRICAN FEDERATION: VIEWS OF COLONIAL PREMIERS 16
By E. B. OSBORN, Author of "Greater Canada."
LAW AND LANGUAGE 23
By M. J. FARRELLY, LL.D., Barrister-at-Law; Advocate of the Supreme
Court of Cape Colony.
THE AFRICANDER PARTY: ITS ORIGIN, ITS GROWTH, ITS AIMS 38
By the Hon. A. WILMOT, Member of the Legislative Council, Cape Colony;
Author of "History of Our Own Times in South Africa," &c., &c.
RHODESIA: SOME PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 55
By E. F. KNIGHT, Author of "Where Three Empires Meet," "The Cruise of
the _Falcon_," &c.
PROBLEMS AND POSSIBILITIES 72
By JAMES STANLEY LITTLE, Author of "South Africa," "The Progress of
the British Empire in the Nineteenth Century," "The United States of
Britain," &c. &c.
THE FUTURE OF THE MINING INDUSTRY 86
By F. T. NORRIS.
THE AGRICULTURAL OUTLOOK 113
By THE EDITOR.
WOOL-GROWING 133
By ALLEN G. DAVISON, Chief Inspector of Sheep for Cape Colony.
SOUTH AFRICAN RAILWAYS 140
By W. BLELOCH, Author of "The New South Africa."
HEALTH RESORTS OF SOUTH AFRICA 157
By ERNEST GRAHAM LITTLE, B.A., formerly Porter Scholar, of the Cape
University; M.D. University of London; Member of the Royal College
of Physicians; Physician, with charge of the Skin Department, at
St. Mary's Hospital; Senior Assistant Physician to the East London
Hospital for Children and Dispensary for Women, Shadwell; late
House Physician at St. George's Hospital and at the City of London
Hospital for Diseases of the Chest.
COMMERCIAL PROSPECTS 174
By WILLIAM EGLINGTON, Editor and Proprietor of "The British and South
African Export Gazette."
THE FUTURE OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONSTABULARY: VIEWS OF
MAJOR-GENERAL BADEN-POWELL 186
APPENDIX: MR. CHAMBERLAIN AND THE BOER GENERALS 189
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS--VOL. VIII.
COMMERCIAL MAP OF SOUTH AFRICA _At Front_
1. _COLOURED PLATES_
PAGE
A STOCK FARM _Frontispiece_
CHURCH STREET, PRETORIA--THE APPROACH TO THE TOWN 20
AT THE HEAD OF UMGENI FALLS, HOWICK, NATAL 40
THE OUTLET BELOW VICTORIA FALLS, ZAMBESI RIVER 64
LORD MILNER 80
A KAFFIR VILLAGE 120
PEELING BARK ON A WATTLE PLANTATION IN NATAL 132
BLOEMFONTEIN 160
2. _FULL-PAGE PLATES_
THE DOCKS, CAPE TOWN 8
THE LOW VELDT FROM BOTHA'S HILL 48
A HUNTER'S WAGGON, RHODESIA 56
THE RESETTLEMENT OF THE TRANSVAAL--A BOER FAMILY RETURNING TO THEIR
FARM 72
WASHING PLANT OF DE BEERS DIAMOND MINES AT KIMBERLEY 88
CYANIDE WORKS (NEW COMET MINE) AT JOHANNESBURG 92
MINES ON THE LINE OF REEF AT JOHANNESBURG 96
DRIVING AN "END" IN MAY CONSOLIDATED MINE, JOHANNESBURG 100
GENERAL VIEW OF THE SURFACE WORKS OF A RAND GOLD MINE (KNIGHT'S) 104
PRITCHARD STREET, JOHANNESBURG 108
MILL (OR BATTERY) OF A GOLD MINE (SALISBURY AND JUBILEE,
JOHANNESBURG) 112
TEA FARM, SHOWING COOLIES PICKING 124
A SUGAR-MILL IN NATAL (CENTRIFUGAL ROOM) 128
JOHANNESBURG MAIL TRAIN AT THE FOOT OF MAJUBA 144
COMMISSIONER STREET, JOHANNESBURG 148
MORNING MARKET AT JOHANNESBURG 152
MORNING MARKET AT KIMBERLEY 168
CHURCH STREET EAST, PRETORIA 176
3. _PORTRAITS_
SIR HENRY M'CALLUM, K.C.M.G. 12
HON. SIR W. F. HELY HUTCHINSON 16
RIGHT HON. SIR J. GORDON SPRIGG, K.C.M.G. 24
HON. SIR ARTHUR LAWLEY, K.C.M.G. 32
SIR H. J. GOOLD-ADAMS, C.B., C.M.G. 44
THE COLONIAL CONFERENCE 184
4. _MAPS AND ENGRAVINGS IN THE TEXT_
FIVE-MILE SPRUIT, RHODESIA 56
CAPE TO CAIRO RAILWAY 58
RHODESIAN NATIVES WASHING CLOTHES 63
MACHECKIE RAILWAY BRIDGE 65
THE WANKIE EXPEDITION 68
RHODESIAN MINING--THE DOBIE MILL 70
PROSPECTING FOR GOLD 87
THE INFANCY OF A GOLD MINE 90
SECTION OF A GOLD MINE 93
HEAD-GEAR OF THE WITWATERSRAND GOLD-MINING CO. 100
KAFFIR COMPOUND 102
CYANIDE WORKS 104
GENERAL VIEW OF SURFACE WORKS 106
MAP--TRANSVAAL GOLD-FIELDS 109
MAP--RHODESIAN GOLD-FIELDS 111
WELLWOOD FARM 114
FARM IN THE KARROO PROPER 118
VERMONT MERINO EWES 122
PURE NEGRETTI MERINO RAM 126
ANGORA GOAT (YOUNG EWE) 130
FLOCK OF FAT CROSS-BRED MERINO AND FAT-TAILED SHEEP 133
ANGORA GOATS (YOUNG RAMS) 135
FAT-TAILED HAIRY AFRICANDER SHEEP 136
ANGORA GOAT (RAM) 138
BRIDGE OVER THE TUGELA 142
STATION YARD, DURBAN 146
MAP OF CAPE GOVERNMENT RAILWAY 152, 3
MAP--BRITAIN IN AFRICA 199
[Illustration: COMMERCIAL MAP OF SOUTH AFRICA]
SOUTH AFRICA AND ITS FUTURE
EMIGRATION
BY HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF ARGYLL, P.C., K.T.
_Author of "Imperial Federation," "The Life and Times of Queen
Victoria," &c._
Emigration of white men and women to South Africa--how can we best
secure this? The abiding difficulty at the Cape and throughout the
states that will form the future South African Confederation is the
colour question. The "colour" is not that of the gold to be found so
often in many places, but the question of the white and the black races
dwelling in the same country.
Dutchman and Englishman will in time form one race. There is nothing to
part them. They are European cousins. They both come from North Europe.
The blood of the Dutchman runs in the veins of the Englishman. The
parent stock of the Dutch gave off many a swarm wherewith to people the
East Anglian shores. England has been fed and fought by the Dutch since
those old days. We have received many of their sturdy countrymen into
London. Any one who does not know the number and influence of the Dutch
in comparatively recent times in our metropolis should pay a visit to
the Austen Friars, the place where the monks of St. Augustine had their
headquarters in the city, and see the fine old church the Dutch built,
and in which they still worship. We remember well the stiff battles of
Charles II.'s time. We know the names of Van Tromp and De Witt as well
as any Dutchman. We have learned to respect our Dutch cousins, both on
sea and land.
And their religion? There is nothing there to separate us. Has the
Presbyterian form of religion kept Scotland separate? No, save in the
pride of her ancient history. No Scotsman has any objection to marry an
English lass, especially if she has herself more than will give both of
them something better than oatcake. And the Dutch Reformed Church is
much like the Presbyterian. There is nothing that can in its tenets
form any bar to the mixing of the British and Dutch people in South
Africa. To be sure, a "nacht-maal" is not precisely a Church of England
convocation or congress. It approaches much nearer to a Scottish
communion service in out-of-the-way Highland parishes. There is nothing
aggressive or exclusive in the staid and sober faith of our Dutch
friends. And this being so, Scotsmen especially have intermarried often
with the Boers.
As trustee of a Highland estate, some time ago my consent was asked to
the granting of a leasehold to a Scottish gentleman, who had returned
from the Transvaal. The only objection the lawyer who asked the question
mentioned as existing against this man was that he was said to have
married a native. Some canny objectors had written a letter saying that
this ought to form a bar to any grant of land to the man, though he had
originally come from the district. Who was the lady? was the next
inquiry. Was she a Hottentot Venus? Did she "bang her hair" in too
negroid a fashion? Would she introduce among the dim lights of the North
the terrible practices of her people? Would the quiet village be
scandalised by strange feasts and weird howlings? No, by no means. What
was she, then? Why, nothing but a nice flaxen-haired, rather
squab-featured, but withal comely Boer girl! So she entered into her
Highland possession, had a door "stoop," or something like a bit of
raised verandah flooring put outside the entrance, but found, poor soul,
that it was rather a dripping place of observation in her adopted
climate. Nevertheless, the last news of her is that she is a happy,
"sonsie" mother, and has some children, who don't speak Dutch as their
common language, but only a few low Dutch words, with very Highland
accent.
But this is said to be only the case where a Scotsman marries a Boer.
There is apparently something in the Scot that makes him look after his
family more carefully than does the average Englishman or Irishman. It
is therefore only the Scot, as it is said, both in Africa and in Canada,
whose children, if he marry one of another race, do not desert the
accents of their forefathers on the paternal side. As a rule the
children become much what the mother is. I have seen the children of a
naval man who had married an Indian woman on the Pacific Coast become
almost like the small fish-eating savages around them. They were willing
to do a little work for a spurt, and then relapsed into dirt and
laziness. So in the north-west of Canada it is only an Orkney or
Aberdeen east-coast Scot who can keep his family to civilised life, if
he marry a Cree or member of any other Indian tribe. The Frenchman's
children, by an Indian mother, take to hunting only. Even with the Scots
in Old Canada the same rule holds good, at least wherever a Celt has
married a French Canadian. There are numbers of families below Quebec,
on the north side of the river St. Lawrence, whose names are Highland.
They are the descendants chiefly of Fraser's Highlanders, one of the
regiments employed during the war against the French in 1748-49. When
the soldiers obtained grants of land on the conclusion of the war they
married French-Canadian women. Their descendants now can seldom speak
one word of English or of Gaelic. They speak nothing but Canadian French
patois. It is the mother's influence, with rare exceptions, that tells.
So it is in South Africa. In some districts it is as with Fraser's
Highlanders, in Province Quebec. You may visit farm after farm,
especially those whose owners have Irish names, and you will not find
any person in the house, or on the land belonging to the farm, who can
speak a word of either English or Irish! It may be doubted if there
would have been much loyalty taught to any government by the use of the
Erse tongue. The "Taal" may inculcate a certain amount more of respect
for paternal and government authority. Yet if theory distinguishes
between Briton and Boer, or Englishman and Africander, Nature does not,
and you find that the mingling of the races is a practical principle
acted on regularly wherever the races are brought together. We may
congratulate ourselves that this is so. The mixed race will be a
magnificent one, with the size, courage, and tenacity of the Dutch, and
the gentleness, bravery, and power of government and of cohesion of the
Britisher. There are no handsomer women anywhere than there are among
the Dutch ladies of Cape Colony. Many of their sons are sent to English
public schools and universities, and though there are, alas, only too
many who live under British institutions and who do not become British,
there is no reason why, in course of time, they should not become as
good citizens of a British Commonwealth as have the Vanderbilts and Van
Horns and Roosevelts, and many others of Dutch name and lineage in New
York State, for New York was New Amsterdam, and a very flourishing Dutch
colony. On the banks of the Hudson you may still see thoroughly Dutch
houses, built in the old days. What New Yorker would now change his
nationality, though of Dutch descent? The freedom they have in the
United States their cousins will also have in South Africa. They will
mix with the English, whose language most of them speak already. They
will do so all the more readily as time passes, in that they can never
feel themselves to be anything but the equals of the British in all save
in numbers.
It was for the benefit of the union between England and Scotland that
the Scots won Bannockburn and many another hard fight besides. They
could point to their victories as the English could to theirs. And so
with those of Dutch race at the Cape. They can point to famous names of
good soldiers, who have inflicted defeat on the best British troops. And
for this they will be all the greater friends hereafter. Unless each
partner in business or in marriage can bring something into the common
pot, there is not so happy a sense of helpfulness and mutual aid given,
as there is when this union is a more equal one. There is another and a
most weighty consideration which will tend to the union of the European
races. This is the common necessity each has to strengthen the other
against any possible predominance of the blacks. The danger in this
matter will arise more in the warmer regions of the north of the future
confederation than in the more temperate south. Time has proved that the
white races can do well in the Cape. They increase rapidly. The climate
is most favourable. The physical character of the races does not in any
way deteriorate. On the contrary, it improves. They gain, as the
Americans say, in "avoirdupois." An "avoirdupois" Dutchman at the Cape,
whose ancestors have been "avoirdupoising" there for two centuries, is a
better all-round, and very round man, than is his compatriot in race at
home among the canals and tulip gardens of Holland. But the black holds
his own in weight and in numbers even in the temperate climate of the
Cape Colony. Farther north, where the temperature is hotter, it is
certain that he will be a better man than the white. The only exception
to this can be in the mountain districts, where at high elevations in
the plateaus there is probably a possibility that the white man's
children may thrive. In general, however, in all the low ground north of
the Transvaal, and in many districts there, the "Kaffir" will be more
favoured by the climate than will be the white invader. The Europeans
will partially subject them, and partially they will remain,
deteriorated in morals, but by no means likely to remain only the
obedient servants that they are expected to be. There are many who now
say that the next big trouble in South Africa will be with the blacks.
This apprehension, if there be any reason in it, is another incentive
for the whites to combine to make settlements secure and numerous, where
they can defy any movement among the blacks. It is an additional
incentive to us in the old land to see what we may do to make this union
of the whites as British in feeling, as liberty loving, as British
institutions can make it. The Boers in fighting have not lost their
freedom. They have only lost one form of collective and separate
independence. Individually their independence is far better guaranteed
under British than under Dutch Africander forms of government.
But a great help to their seeing and understanding of this will be the
predominance, not the domination, of the English language. In the
schools English history and its modern expansion in the colonies should
be taught. Half of the dislike of England shown in the Republic and
among the people in the United States arises from the teaching of the
school-books, which indoctrinates the young American with the idea that
as all tyranny known to his American fathers was centralised and
expressed in Lord North's Stamp Act and the Tea Duties, so the modern
Britisher must still be imbued with the ideas of Lord North, and
taxation without representation must go hand in hand with British rule.
The young Africander must be taught that we of the old country have
learned our lesson. He must know that each of the British self-governing
colonies is a separate nation in alliance of its own free will with the
mother-land. He must know that even in the wildest dreams of
Africanderism the most separatist of the separatists desired the naval
stations of the Cape to remain one of the chief resorts of the British
fleet. Now that Germany and France have their foot on South African
soil, "marching" with the states of the new confederation to be, the
youth of the states must be taught to know our forms of government and
the history of them, so that they may judge if they would rather be
under the German or French flag. To be under any separate new flag would
of course be to court danger from the powerful countries, who could cut
off their trade from the harbours, were it not for the protection
afforded by the British fleets. Union and education are therefore the
passwords to success.
How can we better help these forces than by well-devised emigration? Our
Dutch friends have given us a good example. They imported in the
eighteenth century 5000 children from Amsterdam. They knew what they
were about. That was at a time when horses were sent round in a ring to
tread corn, that the labour of threshing it might be saved. It was a
time when, near the outlying settlements to which the children were
sent, there were lions and elephants to be met with--real live
animals--recognisable by the Noah's ark toys of the children, whose
delight at the sight of the creatures was not always shared by their
parents! How different is all now! For thousands of miles, up and down
the country, life is as safe as in most parishes in England. The only
thing to fear is probably an enraged ostrich, and these can easily, even
on an ostrich farm where the huge birds are reared for their feathers,
be kept out of the children's way. The little ones had a long time of it
on board ship, three months in some cases; and glad they must have been
to see the coast-line rising as they neared the Bay, and the long flat
top of the precipitous Table Mountain, with a white wreath of mist
looking like snow against the delicate blue of the sky, on its rocky
summit level. They were not all kept in the white town at the base of
the beautiful mountain whose ever-changing hues were a delight to them.
The children were wisely distributed, that they might take a liking to
the place where they were trained, and should have a feeling of home
love for the part of the country they would know while yet young. And so
it should be done by us in these later times when we have more need of
the spread of our own tongue and traditions in this great land. Careful
location is indeed necessary, but there are so many good locations,
especially along the south coast, that we need not be too timid or too
dilatory. Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, two good bays to the northward to
which railways must ultimately come--more settlements again along the
coast in temperate regions to the east, are wanted, where latitude 34
shows that no great heat can be feared--these are the "plums" for
position. And when you turn the corner of that long stretch of coast
lying along latitude 34, you must look out for higher sites than those
on the sea-beach for the young people. And of these higher sites there
are plenty. If Durban be too relaxing there is Pietermaritzburg inland,
and so of most of the ports and bays. Leaving the coast and going inland
by the railways into the "Orange" and Transvaal, we at once meet the
main difficulty of "location" in the want of water. The Transvaal seems
like a gigantic turtle-back, and whereas in Australia you may meet with
water if you dig 1500 feet or more, where there is no appearance of it
on the surface, we must wait for such revelations in the Transvaal. The
territories are fed by few good rivers, and these are apt to be either
raging torrents or dry gravel beds. But there are "fonteins" in many
places, and there is no reason why a fair sprinkling of girls' and boys'
institutions should not be comfortably located both in Transvaal and
"Orange," where along the river of that name there is a more certain
supply of water. The Vaal is of course the largest stream for irrigation
in the north. Very little has been done to husband the water of any of
the African rivers; and the chief work to be done in matters of material
improvement is the adequate damming and storing of the waters of all the
principal streams. The winter floods, copious and overwhelming, have
been allowed to run to waste. Water and wives must for a long time be
the chief wants of South Africa.
Lucas gives briefly the main features of the country now under our flag.
From the south coast to the Zambesi in the neighbourhood of the Victoria
Falls is 1200 miles. The land rises steadily from the sea as you get
into the Hinterlands, and the mountain ranges run parallel to the sea.
Behind these ranges there is everywhere an elevated plateau, and the
highest plains are in the east. There also the rainfall is the
greatest. "It is from the south or east that men come into Southern
Africa, not from the west, where stretch the dreary deserts of Damara
and Namaqua Land." North of the Karoo Desert the principal places are
well situated for altitude. To the west Kimberley is 4000 feet above the
sea. Bloemfontein, the capital of the Orange State, is higher by 500
feet than is Kimberley. Mafeking has 4200 feet. Pretoria, the capital of
the Transvaal, is the same as Bloemfontein. Johannesburg, though so near
Pretoria, stands at 5600 feet. In the north, Matebele Land has an
average of 2500 feet. It is possible that deep borings may find water in
the new states where there is none at present. These heights are
sufficient to explain how it is that even far to the north of Cape
Colony European settlement may thrive, and children grow up strong and
healthy. But "location" is everything.
Now, what has been done to foster immigration and settlement up to the
present? Hardly anything has been done by Government. Sir Harry Smith,
who commanded in the fiercest of the Kaffir wars, and after whose wife
Ladysmith received its name, strongly urged the policy of settling
soldiers in the Colony. Between the Fish and the Keiskamma rivers
"military villages" were encouraged, the settlers "being army pensioners
liable to be called on for the defence of the frontier." Then again in
the Queenstown district Governor-General Cathcart proposed to settle two
Swiss Regiments, but his plan was not supported. Then Sir George Grey,
his successor, persuaded the home Government to send out 2300 of the
Foreign Legion, as it was called, recruited for the Crimean War. They
were to be called on for military service, if wanted, during a period of
seven years, and they were to have pay for three years. Each man
received his land free of rent, to become his own at the end of the
seven years, if he had loyally fulfilled his engagements. The Government
of the Cape helped by a grant of money. "At the beginning of 1857," says
Lucas in his _Geography of the British Colonies_, "the German soldiers
arrived and were settled, some at existing towns or stations, such as
East London and King William's Town, some on selected sites, whose
villages were yet to be built. Distributed through the eastern districts
of the Colony, and through British Kaffraria, they held the lines of
communication, as garrisons attached to, and having an interest in the
soil. The divisional district of Stutterheim still bears the name of the
officer in whose charge the soldiers came, and under whose immediate
guidance they were settled on the land. The chief drawback _to the
scheme was that only a few of the emigrants brought wives with them_.
This defect Sir George Grey sought to remedy by proposing to import a
number of German families to be located with and to supplement the
military settlers. Some were brought over, but the total expenditure
which was contemplated was too large to win the assent of the Imperial
Government, and to subsidise an exclusively German immigration, seemed
to the Secretaries of State less politic than to provide the existing
German settlers with English or Irish wives. The Governor therefore sent
on a thousand of the unmarried soldiers to India, and those who
remained behind developed into Cape Colonists, and fell into line with
the civil population."
This experiment has succeeded so well that it is a wonder that it was
not repeated. Considering the enormous disproportion in the old country
between the number of men and the number of women, it would seem a
comparatively simple matter to assist female emigration, especially when
a Colony is young and able to absorb any number sent. Nor need any
Colonial Government Department be alarmed that the worthless will be
sent. There are plenty of useful and excellent women who would be glad
to go. As yet the only woman contingents that have been sent out are the
few dozen teachers who have proceeded to the concentration camps. A
party of these hailing from Toronto and Ottawa were lately in England on
their journey to the Cape. Every one who met these ladies was struck
with the earnestness they showed and the ability they displayed in
conversing on the subject of their hopes and expectations. They seemed a
lot drafted from the best women instructresses in some New England
State. But Ontario can well afford now to be compared with the best of
the New England States in regard to her public instruction. Her schools
of all kinds are excellent. A "send off" meeting was held in the
Jerusalem Chamber at Westminster Abbey for a party of fifty. They were
addressed by Mr. Chamberlain and Lord Peel. Now that peace has come and
the camps will have been broken up, these women will doubtless find
equally useful employment under the Education Department in the New
Colonies. The Government here have a large "reservoir" to draw upon in
the women who are employed in the telegraph and postal service in Great
Britain. Any of these persons would immediately find a sphere of
activity in the new lands. The population of these countries is certain
to increase rapidly with the opening of the old mines and the successful
exploitation of new. There are large centres of industry where there is
no want of water, where there is a certainty of good mining success, and
where communities will grow up anxious for good schools, and well able
to pay for instructors and instructresses.
[Illustration: Photo: Wilson, Aberdeen.
THE DOCKS, CAPE TOWN.]
It is a curious thing that while at the Cape and elsewhere you find in
the hotels plenty of Swiss and German and some French waitresses and
housemaids, you find few English. Why? It must be only from want of
organisation. At Grahamstown, not far from the bay called Algoa by the
Portuguese (whose thoughts went to Goa in India, and named Algoa and
Delagoa as calling places for Goa ships) there has been an institution
for instruction lately founded. Let me cite here the work of the South
African Expansion Committee in their own words.
This Association is established to promote Protected
Emigration, due regard being had to the interests both of the
Emigrants and of the countries to which they go.
The Association pledges itself:--
(_a_) To Emigrate only such Women and Girls as are of good
character and capacity.
(_b_) To select only such Men and Families as are suitable to
the requirements of each Colony.
(_c_) To secure for them proper Protection on the voyage, and
adequate Reception on arrival.
(_d_) If possible, not to lose sight of them for a year or two
after their Emigration.
(_e_) To raise a Loan Fund for necessitous cases, repayment
being secured on detained wages.
It is recognised by prominent statesmen of all parties that the
future of our South African possessions depends on their
colonisation--not only by the large bodies of active and
energetic men, who at the close of the war will find permanent
employment there--but also by trained and capable women. Many
situations and professions are already awaiting them, and as
the country becomes more settled, fresh openings of all sorts
will arise.
Women of proved suitability are prepared to go, when the right
time comes, but a great barrier to all extensive development of
this essential movement is lack of funds.
Financial support is needed for the following purposes:--
(1) The establishment, on sound business principles, of Hostels
at Cape Town[1] and at the chief centres, such as Durban,
Pretoria, Kimberley, Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, Bulawayo,
Salisbury, &c., where women and girls can be received for a
few days on arrival, and where, if they have daily
engagements, they may reside permanently. Each of these
Hostels would be also an employment Bureau for every kind
of women's work, and would require a capable salaried Lady
Superintendent to manage the Home and the Employment
Bureau, and to act as correspondent between Employer and
Employed.
(2) Provision for the proper care and guidance of women
throughout the journey from the British Isles to their final
destination in South Africa.
(3) Grants in aid of passages from the British Isles to South
Africa when the traveller cannot afford the whole cost, or
loans to be repaid within a given period.
(4) Preparation of women at the Leaton Colonial Training Home,
Wellington, Salop.
(5) Secretarial Expenses.
British men and women must alike desire for our new
territories, and for South Africa generally, the same ordered,
wholesome, law-abiding traditions as are to be found in the Old
Country; and these can only be built up on a lasting basis, by
rendering life possible there as here for suitable women,
whether as teachers, nurses, secretaries, typists, telegraph or
telephone clerks, sempstresses, or household assistants.
We would appeal for funds not only to help those who go to earn
their daily bread, but also to enable the wives, the daughters,
and sisters of settlers to join their belongings in the new
country. Many a man could make a home for his wife or sister
but for the initial cost of her passage and the difficulties of
the journey for inexperienced women. Openings in the new
territories are declined by men at the front, because they
cannot bring out those dependent upon them at home. They need
that the ocean be bridged for them by kindly forethought, by
experienced and economical organisation, by suitable
protection, and by carefully adjusted financial assistance.
It is surely not much to ask that those to whom domestic
comfort is a matter of course, should contribute in these ways
to make a home life possible for those upon whom the future of
South Africa depends.
The Lady Knightley, of Fawsley, in regard to the preparation
for women going to South Africa, says:--
"In laying before the public the scheme for assisting the
emigration of women of all classes to South Africa, the Council
are specially anxious to enlist the active co-operation of
ladies in all parts of the country, and with a view to securing
this assistance, they desire to draw the attention, of those
who may be disposed to help, to various methods of forwarding
the scheme, in the hope that some one or other of them may
prove feasible.
"Ladies could insure that those desiring to emigrate should
have the opportunity of fitting themselves for their new life
by helping to provide instruction for them in various
departments of practical life.
"1. Cooking, Dairying, Poultry-keeping.
"2. Breadmaking, Laundry-work.
"3. Needlework, Cutting out.
"4. Gardening, Fruit-packing, Bee-keeping.
"5. Ambulance, Nursing, Health teaching.
"In some parts of the country this will be best accomplished by
arranging for attendance at County Council Classes for
Technical Instruction, or by putting people in the way of
gaining the Scholarships which some County Councils provide for
dairying, others for nursing, &c. In other districts, where
such Classes or Scholarships are not provided by the County
Council, or where the Classes are inconvenient of access, it
might be arranged for such instruction to be given in a country
house. Good, old-fashioned, upper servants, of whom there are
some left, might in some cases be glad to help in this way.
"An even better plan would be to arrange for girls and young
women (especially those from towns) to pass a month or two in a
farmhouse, where, under a capable farmer's wife, much of the
required teaching would come naturally in the routine of the
household. In this way a foundation might be laid which would
render the traveller of far greater use on her first arrival
in South Africa than would otherwise be the case, and also more
able to acquire further knowledge should she obtain a situation
on a poultry or other farm.
"The improved methods of poultry-keeping inaugurated by the
National Poultry Organisation, 12 Hanover Square, should, if
possible, be studied. Ladies might supply intending travellers
with copies of its valuable leaflets.
"Some knowledge of gardening should be acquired, preferably
through the medium of the Swanley Ladies' Horticultural
College. But should this prove too long and expensive a
training, a good deal might be learnt from a head gardener if
ladies would make it easy for such instruction to be given. The
best methods of packing fruit should also be acquired, and in
towns, ladies who are large customers of fruit salesmen might
make interest with them for giving instruction.
"Ladies who are Members of County Bee-keeping Associations
might be able to obtain for intending Emigrants some
instruction from the Expert usually attached to such
Associations. Mr. Theodore Bent has pointed out that in a
country where wild bees do so well as they do in South Africa,
tame bees ought to succeed, and as butter at present is
somewhat scarce, honey might become a valuable article of food.
The same remark applies to jam, and jam-making should be
included in the subjects to be taught.
"If possible, intending travellers should attend some
ambulance, health, and nursing lectures, which would prove a
valuable possession in their future lives. Of course, such
instruction would be a good deal better than nothing, but
regular Ambulance Lectures, with an Examination to follow,
would be far better, and in many instances ladies could use
their influence in the country in getting such lectures
arranged, not of course specially for Emigrants, but to give
them the opportunity of attending. They might also, in some
cases, pay the necessary fees. There are many ladies,
especially among the younger ones, who have acquired a
considerable knowledge of nursing, and who might do invaluable
service by imparting to intending emigrants some acquaintance
with, at all events, such rudiments of nursing as are comprised
in changing sheets, improvised cradles, bed rests, and the
hundred and one little dodges--if they may be so termed--which
make the whole difference in illness, and which so many people
are utterly ignorant of.
"It is hoped that it may be found possible for nurses to go out
on the same ships with parties of emigrants, with a view to
their giving nursing and ambulance lectures on the voyage.
"Ladies may also help by contributing to the libraries for use
on board ship and at the Hostels, which it is intended to
establish for the reception of emigrants on their arrival at
Cape Town, and also in other South African Centres.
"Another form of assistance would be to undertake to pay for
the instruction of emigrants in South African languages. Miss
Alice Werner (20 Dry Hill, Park Road, Tonbridge) is holding
classes for the study of the Zulu language, and also for Taal
or Cape Dutch, at King's College, Strand. Besides these, she is
prepared to give lessons in some of the languages spoken in
British Central Africa.
"Clothes are not unfrequently needed for intending emigrants.
Working parties could be organised to provide new
underclothing, which could also be purchased from institutions
and bazaars. These working parties would also furnish a
valuable opportunity for making known the scheme among the
daughters of the farmers and tradesmen, who are just the class
most likely to prove desirable denizens of the new Colonies.
"Useful but fashionable slightly-used clothes for middle-class
women might also be collected.
"Ladies with friends in South Africa may also give valuable
assistance by writing to tell them of the scheme, being careful
to enclose a prospectus issued by the Association, so that
there may be no mistake as to terms, conditions, &c. Ladies in
Cape Town should be asked to confer with Mrs. Bairnsfather,
Grange Avenue, Rondebosch, Cape Town, and with the Committee
which has recently been formed.
"It should be known to all who are kindly willing to interest
themselves in this undertaking that a Colonial Training Home
has been established at Leaton, Wrockwardine, Wellington,
Salop, the object of which is to give practical training in
domestic work to ladies and girls wishing to proceed to the
Colonies, to join their families or as Mothers' Helps. The
training given is of the most thorough description, and no
servants being kept, the pupils do all the work of the house.
The course lasts for three or six months, and the terms are
15s. weekly for a single bedroom, 10s. for sharing a double
one. But as only twelve pupils can be received at a time, it
will be impossible by this means only, to train the many girls
who, it is hoped, will be willing and anxious to avail
themselves of the advantages offered by this scheme; and
therefore it is that the Council confidently appeal for help on
the simple but practicable lines indicated in the foregoing
pages."
In application to the British Women's Emigration Association (South
African Expansion), replies to the following questions have to be
forwarded to the Hon. Secretary, South African Expansion, Imperial
Institute, London, S. W.:--
1. Christian and Surname in full; Postal Address in full.
2. Date and Place of Birth; Religious Denomination.
3. (_a_) Parents or near relative living; (_b_) Home Address;
(_c_) Father's Profession.
4. To which Colony do you wish to go?
5. Have you friends or relatives there with whom you are in
correspondence? if so, give name and address.
6. What line of life do you propose to pursue in that Colony?
7. Have you hitherto had any experience in practical work?
8. Do you propose--(_a_) to invest capital? (_b_) to seek
employment in (1) Poultry, Fruit, Vegetable Farming or
Dairy? (2) Business, Boarding-house, Tea-shop, Dressmaking,
Photography, &c.
9. If from a Colonial or other Training Home, give address.
10. Is your health good? (a Medical Certificate will be
required); when were you last vaccinated?
11. Can you meet your travelling expenses, or are you likely to
require a small loan?
12. Three references are required. Give name and address if
possible of--(_a_) Minister of Religion or Justice of the
Peace; (_b_) two ladies or other responsible persons.
13. Space to be left blank for Referee's signature.
14. Length of time Referee has known Applicant.
The ordinary ocean fares are as follow:--
Union-Castle Line, from Southampton.
_Second Class._ _Mail Steamer._ _Intermediate._
Cape Town 25 to 29 guineas 23 to 26 guineas.
Port Elizabeth 17 to 31 " 24 to 28 "
East London 28 to 32 " 25 to 29 "
Natal 29 to 33 " 26 to 30 "
_Third Class._ _Mail Steamer._ _Intermediate._
Cape Town 15 to 17 guineas 12 to 14 guineas.
Port Elizabeth 16 to 18 " 13 to 15 "
East London 17 to 19 " 14 to 16 "
Natal 18 to 20 " 15 to 17 "
Aberdeen (Rennie) Line, direct from London.
Natal, First Class, £34 13s.; Second Class, £21.
Beira, " £40 19s.; " £26.
Intermediate Steamers carrying First Class only.
Natal, £25, 4s. Beira, £34.
Shaw Savill Line to Cape Town only, from London--
Third Class, £9, 9s. to £11, 11s. No Second Class.
Also White Star Line to Cape Town occasionally, from Liverpool.
Luggage allowed free; 20 cubic feet second class; 10 cubic feet
third class, extra at 1s. 6d. per foot. By Aberdeen Line, 40
feet first class; 30 feet intermediate.
At the present time there are no assisted passages to Cape
Colony. When these are granted, they enable an employer to
obtain an employee by paying to the Immigration Office at Cape
Town a portion of the passage money, the Government of Cape
Colony paying the remainder. Women availing themselves of the
advantage of a practically free passage are obliged to sign a
contract, which is legally binding, to remain one year or
longer, according to the agreement made with the employer.
NATAL.--Persons resident in Natal can obtain third class
assisted passages from their female relatives and domestic
servants through the Immigration Department in the Colony.
Adults, £5; children, half-price.
Persons travelling under the auspices of the Association are
grouped in reserved cabins under an escort. When larger parties
are collected they will have the comfort of travelling with an
experienced matron, whose authority they will be expected to
uphold.
Hostels and Employment Bureaux are established for receiving
travellers and for Registry Work at Cape Town, Johannesburg,
and Salisbury. Reception and forwarding arranged at all
seaports.
Employment for Elementary and High School Teachers, Trained
Nurses, Typists, Dressmakers and Milliners, Useful Helps,
Matrons, Business Hands, and Laundresses, can be obtained
through the Correspondents of the Association.
In Cape Colony and the larger towns of South Africa, the
openings will be chiefly for all-round Domestics, and women in
Professions and Business; up the country in the New
Territories, for women who as Working Housekeepers can utilise
native labour. Teachers will be wanted in all the Provinces.
Employees will be sent out as soon as employers apply for them
and Government Authorities consent. Women who intend to settle
up-country should meanwhile perfect themselves in cooking and
all household matters, adding a knowledge of dairy work,
poultry, and bee-keeping.
Travellers going through the Association who have to sleep in
London, can be received at 3s. 6d. per day. Three days' notice
must be given.
Only women of good character, health, and capability, are
accepted by the South African Expansion Committee, in whose
hands the selection of women to South Africa has been placed.
Protection is secured to them till they enter the situations
found for them in the Colonies.
[Illustration: Photo: Elliott & Fry, London.
SIR HENRY M'CALLUM, K.C.M.G.
Governor of Natal.]
But fully as important as the emigration of adults will be the placing
of children in well-selected places in South Africa. The object to be
attained is to let children grow up in the country so that they may
regard it as their own, and that their early home affection may be
largely connected with their adopted land. The difficulty of the
selection of children is as nothing compared with the difficulty of the
selection of adults. Nor are the objections often raised in a new
community against the importation of the last, heard against the first.
A wide experience has shown that children are eagerly sought by farmers,
and are "placed out" with ease. The remarkable success Dr. Barnardo has
had in Canada, to which country he has sent between twelve and thirteen
thousand children, has proved this. The number of failures has been only
about 1 per cent. Nor is this a haphazard statement. Watch and ward have
been kept over the fortunes of the youngsters. They have been carefully
placed after due negotiation and correspondence, and each has been
reported upon after settlement. The success obtained is best gauged by
the ever-increasing number of applications for just such boys and girls
as have been previously "located." Every year of late years there have
been three great parties sent across the Atlantic, and the cry is ever
for more to come. In spring, in midsummer, and in "the fall," the
children have been taken out. Entrained on arriving in Canada, the
farmers have come down to meet them at the various stations, and they
have been at once taken to their new homes, where they have almost
uniformly given satisfaction to their employers. They are growing up
hearty, happy Canadians, and many hundred letters arrive from them at
Stepney where they were trained, telling how they are "getting on."
Every penny spent on their teaching in England has had a double return
in making room when they go for another boy or girl to be similarly
brought up, and in providing Canada and Britain with a small citizen
"cut out of whole cloth," as the Americans say, ready to fight for the
Empire whether in Canada, in Europe, or in Africa.