WALFISCH BAY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9140, 16 July 1908, Page 4

WALFISCH BAY.

One oE the objects of Herr Dernburer's visits to London and South Africa is said to be the acquisition of Walfisch Bay from England. The Secretary for Foreign Affairs has admitted that negotiations are in progress for the settlement of the boundary of the Walfisclrßay territory and German South-West Africa, and it is stated that Germany is really trying to get on the soft side of England, and acquire the only good harbour <m the coast. To Germans, Walfisch Bay, a small tract of only 700 square miles with an admirable harbour,, lying in the middle of their vast harbourlesa territory, is an eyesore. The German territory of Damaraland wa3 once held loose-y by England, but in the scramble of 1884 it was allowed to pass into the hands of Germany with the exception of Walfisch Bay the natural outlet of the vast hinterland The possession is an oblong patch of sand, which might be dealt with in gazetteer fashion thus: "Productions,

nil; exports and imports, nil; popula - tion, nil, or very nearly." The great liners do not stop there, and it' is quite off the tourist routes; indeed, the visitor to South Africa may never hear the name of the territory mentioned. The white population numbers about thirty, and behind their settlement lies a straggling collection of squalid native huts, dignified by the name of Sandfontein. The only use to which the harbour is at present put is as a practising ground for the ships of the Cape Squadron. The Germans were invited to use the harbour, but they preferred their own port of Svakopmund, where there is no shelter from the Atlantic rollers, save for very small vessels. A steamer recently took 40 days to unload her cargo there. England holds the place, not because it is of much use to her, but because of the use which might be made of it against her. If she could, Germany would no doubt turn it into a naval base of great menace to our African colonies.