South Africa and the Transvaal War, Vol. 8 (of 8): South Africa and Its Future
History
South Africa and the Transvaal War, Vol. 8 (of 8): South Africa and Its Future
South African War, 1899-1902; Transvaal (South Africa) -- History
subdue any fresh outbreak by using the serum which is now manufactured
at Kimberley.
Now that peace has come to South Africa, all that Rhodesia wants to
enable her to make rapid progress is cheap transport, which she will
shortly have, and abundant and efficient native labour; for surely the
sore trials of her youth, which she so pluckily endured and survived,
are over at last. The gold is there; the majority of the reefs are
permanent, and to quote from the report of the Chartered Company's
Resident Consulting Engineer:--"What the future may hold it is
impossible to say, but the most grievous pessimist must surely admit
that the experimental stage has been safely passed, and that Rhodesia
has been proved to be a valuable gold-mining country of which the
possibilities are enormous." The recent discovery of valuable coal
deposits will greatly assist the development of the country's resources,
more especially benefiting the gold-mining industry, for the timber is
becoming exhausted in the vicinity of the mines, and the price of wood
fuel is ever advancing. A careful examination of one small section of
the Wankie bed shows that it will yield 1000 tons a day of coal of
excellent quality for the next hundred years. It is too early yet to
discuss the value of the iron, copper, and other ores which exist in
Rhodesia.
To turn to agriculture. There seems to be no production of the temperate
and sub-tropical zones that does not flourish on the favoured,
well-watered soil of Southern Rhodesia. The area under cultivation is
rapidly extending. The one great drawback is the locust. However,
farming pays well despite occasional bad seasons. Here is a story that
exemplifies the tenacity, under disaster, of the Rhodesian settler. In
one year, when the successive locust swarms ate up the land, a certain
farmer sowed his farm with mealies. The locusts devoured the crop:
undiscouraged, he sowed his fields a second time: again he lost his
crop. Yet a third time he sowed, and got his harvest in safely. Despite
the two failures, he now realised a handsome profit. Happily, in the
season of 1898-99 locusts almost entirely disappeared, and apparently
they have never since invaded the country in their former numbers. It is
claimed that this is due to the extensive use of toxine, with which for
the last few years a campaign of extermination has, with apparent
success, been carried on against these scourges of the land. The toxine
has been distributed among the white farmers and the native chiefs, with
instructions for its use, and satisfaction with the results has been
generally expressed. An energetic farmer does well in Rhodesia, and
finds among the mining communities an ever-increasing market for his
produce. At present the principal products are mealies, barley, wheat,
oats, forage, and potatoes, and excellent crops are raised. Market
farming and dairy farming in the vicinity of the towns are industries
that require little capital, and are exceedingly profitable.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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