Why South Africa must, for many years to come, remain our best customer, ever increasing its demands upon our industries, is not difficult of comprehension to those who are acquainted with its circumstances. Although it is more than capable in proper hands and with the assistance of capital of being self-supporting, beyond its gold, diamonds, and coal, it produces little or nothing to speak of. It has one of the finest climates in the world; its soil is more than ordinarily fertile, and only requires water to yield a harvest more than sufficient for its consumptive needs, which could easily be obtained if the ample rainfall were properly conserved and irrigation resorted to on an intelligent principle. Incredible as it may seem, even the mealies or maize, which it could grow in sufficient quantity, without recourse to irrigation, to supply its own wants and leave a margin for export, are imported to the amount of something like £350,000 annually. Its iron deposits are probably unequalled elsewhere; its seas teem with fish, and its orchards and vineyards groan with the yield which nature lavishes with but little assistance from man. Yet on the shelves of every store throughout the country will be found imported canned fish and fruit, mainly from America; and while it is true that here and there jam factories are to be found, and the sugar cane grows almost wild in Natal, probably more than half a million yearly is disbursed on imported jams, confectionery, syrups, and the like. Tea likewise flourishes in Natal, but South Africa imports nearly £200,000 worth yearly; fresh and preserved vegetables, to its shame, are actually landed to the value of £80,000 annually, although, like most other foodstuffs, the soil grows them in luxuriant profusion; and of wine, despite the fact that the huge quantities made at the Cape, if properly treated according to European methods, would be unsurpassed in the world, the oversea product stands for nearly £300,000.