SOUTH AFRICA

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 432, 28 December 1889, Page 4

SOUTH AFRICA

H. Johnson- - (late 80th Regiment) has courteously forwarded us an interesting letter from^outh Africsf%Blgh merits the attention/^ of =* .^our"^^ehip- | owners anid*exporter^df;firodMe'.^jJ^e^ayC: j\»;lt,is .certain tha^wiiihiiKii^ ' dreds^oj thoueanfli^wni^flqcj^^to^tfe^dis- ; facts mentioned, ,a"s jriincral^^i^tn^BbuTa'ds ; arid the clima£e is. healthy>iaWdfferJile'?ahd %yell v \Vatered . Tffifasheteattsg:sss- , tion wili^.so long^a^.'the^p^laTfey'er/^Btai, s require .to.be fed*:iiW^diitß\die"*^O]HrcoB, and ' New J Zealand^wiii^be^l6olced§tb \fbi' J the provisioning.' I AisZyQ^jMdtoKftm (Charts handy, but imagine the* 1 aiajpnce between £> Ancl^lan,d/,-,andj , Amatongalahd cannot be more than' 5, 000 to 6,006 mffear" Tile letter runs 'as' folloSvs 1 :^ 1 V&^sf '• ; ". Boksbey /-South, Africa,-J f: l)ear'J--^ ? — , —In youit, ot^the^th May you^r&jfifirk that your colony is suffering fromj-atple-thora of production,' dnd'thab consequently the growers dp snot obtain, a fair return'for outlay and, labour.' Well, lean orily^y that it is a pity you T hav'eno direc^commuriication'withiDelneoa'Ba'y, or even"with Natal orblie ( Cape, for we hero have' had almost ,a famine. , Not „tha^ the f so^l and climate are incapable of supplying the population, daily ' increasing"" in this region ; but, • as" liybu wills .re« member, the 'Boers r never .cultivate beyond a small patch for domestic consumption, and often noc even , that, and the natives here, as in other 'parts of Sduth Africa, are given more to'hunting than to cultivating the soil. .As for the Europeans, they are £ully employed in the -hidden treasures, of the eaifch th'afc are dnily beingaiscovered'and brought' 'tefgrass, the quartz, in most cases, -showing wonderfully rich.>. Already -in ) the Transvaal the English outnumber the .Boers,, and in another three years mosb of us will, in virtue of '' a tive years' " r residence, claim franchise*, and "shallf'thenJ' virtually f.go,vern't a • country larger ( than - France,-, and for minerajs probably,, "richer, than any other in tlie world. The'climate' also is excellent, for' though bordering 'on . tKe tropics, nearly all* ' this "vast ' tableland 'ia from 4,000 to 5,000 fe.et above thesea lev.el. t You .will remembev,iPvhodes, of diamond field celebrity." He went home 'lately , to start a gigantic company, he having'obtained a splendid concession • from ,Lobengula, King of-Matabeleland.,, comprisingan area of fiOO, OOO, square miles of^exceeding fertility and great mineral wealth,' especially in Mashorialand,' wKere'rich 1 alluvial gold has- been "dug by 'the natives; who barter it with the Portuguese, of .Torenco mavques. This Company, with the.Duke of Fifeas Chairman,and a capital of £1,0<M),'000, will open out the country as expeditiou'sly as possible by road and rail. 'Shepstone. is now in Swaziland, and trying to induce, the Home Government to take over, that country and also Amatongaland,' whicti would give Rhodes'sconce>sion,and the Trarisvaala good seaboard' with an excellent harbour, thus making: those < countrias independent of Delagoa Bay and its miserable Portuguese owners. " I have little doubt that assoori as the Zambesi Company has fairly started,' and the wonderfully rich regions of Swaziland, Amatongaland, Mashonaland and the Tati district have enticed the shoals of English and other miners always on the qiii viv'e n to teek where the' gold is, a 3 ' magnificent field for your New Zealand cheese,, butter, tinned meats, etc., will be open,,for as exporters you, will be relatively nearer to .us than any other country, that' is? 'presuming that' Western 1 Australia has not" the produce to send. - ' ' , , " We have now three theatres in Johannesberg, a circus, hundreds of bars and horse racing galore, with 2,000-guinea plates. Mrs j. would, I am sure, like the country and climate, and would not find society bad, for there are 'many Englishmen with their wives and children."'