The development of the mineral resources is almost entirely British, and Johannesburg financiers have opened up copper and gold mines. Enormous deposits of haematite iron and asbestos are known to exist, but so far have not been worked. Copper, gold, silver, tin, and lead have been worked profitably; but the principal mining industry is diamond washing, and this is mainly in Government hands. No mine or pipe has been discovered, but the diamonds are found in the loose sand on the foreshore under conditions similar to those prevailing at Diamantina in Brazil. The diamonds are "dolleyed," and picked out by natives under supervision; but there are a few individual diggers upon whose net production the Government levied a tax. The output of diamonds in 1913 was valued at £3,000,000, the stones being disposed of under State agency, who occupy the same relative position to the industry as the De Beers Diamond Buying Syndicate to the Kimberley mines. Diamonds and their concomitants such as olivine, rubies, garnets, etc., have also been discovered on the islands, and in 1906 the discovery of a true pipe was reported on Plum Pudding Island. A syndicate was formed in England, and an expedition, fitted out with great secrecy, was sent out in the S.S. _Xema_; but on arriving at Plum Pudding Island they not only discovered that a tug, dispatched by a Cape Town firm, had visited the island and claimed discoverers' rights, but that by order of the Cape Government no landing was permitted for fear of disturbing the sea-birds, on whom the guano industry depended. The capital of South West Africa was established at Windhoek, 235 miles inland, and here a large five-tower wireless station was built, which could under the most favourable conditions communicate direct with Berlin, but was otherwise in touch via Togoland. Windhoek is connected by a railway line with the coast at Swakopmund at the mouth of the Swakop River close to Walfisch Bay, and 1318 miles of railways have been built. The Administration has laid down a network of roads and telephones, which presents a contrast to some of our Colonies where the means of communication are extremely difficult, but points at the same time to expensive administration. Signposts are placed everywhere in the country, indicating the direction of water or villages. While Luderitzbucht is a fine harbour, the lack of fresh water made the Germans select Swakopmund as the principal point on the coast, although it possesses an open roadstead and a heavy sandy bar. From Swakopmund the principal railway through Windhoek links up with the line from Luderitzbucht at Keetmanshoop, and the lines, as in other German Colonies, strike significantly towards British borders.