SOUTH AFRICAN LAND SETTLEMENT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 79, 29 March 1912, Page 4

SOUTH AFRICAN LAND SETTLEMENT.

]'v the introduction of a Land SetLl> i. cut liill the South African Govcrn>v.cut is behoved to be at last tackling a very serious problem in South African affairs. The new Hill is a comprehensive measure and provides for a land Bank to .advance farmers money ca easy terms to farmers. It also gives facilities for the easy asquisition of land by intending .settlors, thus following oa the lines of land policy which have proved so succssful in Canada. And, besides this, it also faces the practical difficulties of climate by initiating a largo scheme of irrigation. It is held by those who ought to know, that a successful irrigation scheme, wisely planned and well carried out, wonlo literally add millions of pounds to the natural wealth of South Africa, ano it is tin's part of the Bill which commands most general support. Ever ia the thirsty Karroo a scheme that would store and distribute the rainwater that now runs straight away down those rocky watercourses aftei every summer storm would change the face of the land in a few years. People are apt to think of South Africa as a dry country; parts of it, such as the Karroo and the western parts of Cape Colony, are dry, although severe floods are nob unknown even there. But on the Rand the aver- , age rainfall for the year is about thirty-five inches, while some parts of the Transvaal are much wetter. The problem of successful cultivation o' the soil is concerned not so much with a deficiency of rainfall as with the limited season when the rains occm raid their violence when they do spread ever the country.