THE RAND BOOM

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 157, 28 July 1909, Page 4

THE RAND BOOM

BETTER TIMES IN SOUTH ! AFRICA. Johannesburg, May 28. After a long time it is once more quite "boom time" in Johannesburg. It is generally agreed that prospects have never been so good since 1895. ill classes of business are already feel ing the effects of better times. Activity on the Stock Exchange is enormous, for the public have at last fairly "gone into it." . One feature of the moment is tue immense amount of pegging of claims going on in the surrounding district. Thousands of claims allowed to la .■ in times of depression have been t»A up again, and many flotations are V • able, tut there are "fears in some nit;., ters that this may be overdone and produce a reaction. The general view, however, is that the upward tendency will last. The reduced working costs on mines have made payable the working of millions of tons of'reef which hitherto have not bee-j a profitable proposition, and at the same time have immensely increased the profits of the more valuable mines. It is regarded as a good sign that so far the improvement has not produced the mania of gambling which marked the 1895 "boom." In the commercial part of the town traders report a marked increase in trade, especially in luxuries such as pianos, motor-cars, carriages and horses, which first felt tlie bad times. There are strong hopes that the wave of prosperity will result in the opening up of new mines, and that it will thus absorb the unemployed.