“How is he taxed? There is probably no one in the Transvaal, rich or poor, whose personal taxes amount to more than £5 a year. If it is complained that he is taxed through his interest in the gold industry it is easy to make an appeal to published figures. In 1895 the Crown Reef Gold Mining Company produced gold worth upward of £420,000, and distributed nearly £97,000 in profits. Its payment to the Government for rents, licenses, and all other privileges and rights amounted to £1,191 9s 10d. In the same year the Robinson Company, which had produced £651,000 in gold and distributed £346,000 in dividends, paid to the government £395 11s 8d. The New Chimes Company, producing £93,000 in gold and distributing £32,000 in profits, paid under the head of rates and licenses, together with insurance premiums, £664 16s 5d. The Transvaal Coal Trust produced 266,945 tons of coal, and paid the government £53 15s, while the Consolidated Land and Exploration Company, in which the Ecksteins are the largest shareholders, and which owns more than 250 farms of 6,000 acres each, paid to the government in the shape of taxes, including absentee tax, no more than £722 2s 6d. “These figures are sufficiently eloquent by themselves. They become more eloquent when they are placed beside the 50 per cent impost claimed by the Chartered Company on all gold-mining enterprise in Rhodesia. “But what about indirect taxation? Here are the facts: “All machinery for mining purposes is subject to only 1½ per cent impost dues, the term machinery being stretched by the government to its uttermost possibilities to meet the mining industry, and it is made to include sheet lead, cyanide, etc. All other articles not specially rated are subject to an ad valorem duty of 7½ per cent, the Cape Colonist paying an ad valorem duty of 12 per cent. Specially rated articles affecting the white miners, such as tea, coffee, butter, rice, soap, sugar, are in most cases subject to lower, and only in one instance to higher, duties than in Cape Colony. “Here is a comparison: CAPE COLONY. TRANSVAAL. Butter 3d per lb. 5s 0d per 100 lbs. Cheese 3d per lb. 5s 0d per 100 lbs. Coffee 12s 6d per 100 lbs. 2s 6d per 100 lbs. Rice 3s 6d per 100 lbs. 1s 6d per 100 lbs. Soap 4s 2d per 100 lbs. 5s 0d per 100 lbs. Sugar 6s 3d per 100 lbs. 3s 6d per 100 lbs. Tea 8d per lb. 2s 6d per 100 lbs. Guns £1 per barrel. 10s 0d per barrel.