THE TRANSVAAL.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 30, 6 February 1899, Page 4

THE TRANSVAAL.

There is no such continuous cloud on the horizon of the British Empire as that which has gathered over the Transvaal. Although but a very small speck to threaten the immense expanse of placid blue, it is a lowering little cloud with an objectionably assertive appearance, and only at rare intervals is it so dimly outlined as to be hardly, noticeable. President Kru-

ger, with his marked personality and j deeply rooted conviction that to let, outsiders have a say in the Republic would quickly mean the loss of Boer ascendency and eventual disintegration, is the. root of the evil under which foreigners suffer. While the Transvaal finds money to squander on abortive campaigns into the northern country after disagreeable Kaffirs, like the gentleman who goes by the name lof "Mpefu. and on the maintenance of totally unnecessary and expensive . foreign representation, the greatest distress prevails in such centres as | Johannesburg. The money that goes into a sieve-like treasury is very largely : obtained from the heavy duties on food stuffs. These naturally fall almost entirely on the people of the towns. The Boers are for the most part farmers, and it was with a view to their protection that a heavy tariff was placed on food stuffs. The state of affairs would not now be so deplorable had it not been for the outbreak oi rinderpest, which carried off some millions of cattle in South Africa, and followed by a prolonged drouglil left the herds so decimated as to be totally inadequate to supply the wants of the population. The annual absorption of 200,000 sheep for food in.the Rand Is also entirely disproportionate to the extent of the flocks of the country. At the present time these food duties arc of small advantage to the stock owners, as they have little to sell, and they simply serve to bulk out the Government receipts by the most objectionable of all forms of taxation —the taxation of the food of the poor. In Cape Colony the Sehreiner Government which is virtually representative of the Dutch agriculturists and pastoralists of the colony, and as sUch anxious to secure, the producers from competition, iinanimouslj' consented to a temporary remission of the duties, and the Governments of Xatal and the Orange Free State are expected to follow in their footsteps. Last winter Johannesburg with its population of 100,000, for the most part Uitlanders, was the scene of exhibitions of the direst poverty, and the trouble was only partially mitigated by the establishment of soup kitchens and labour bureaus. Despite the fact that the mining depression is partially responsible for the distress prevailing, little would be heard of hard times were the necessities of life untaxed. The question is of interest to tis in Australasia, as it is to frozen mutton that the people would look if fiscal restric-, tions on the food supply wrere abolish- j cd. So vitally felt is this question of food taxation that it may be said without exaggeration that it is becoming the great point at isfcue. in the Transvaal, and to a less extent throughout South Africa. Before ,it the vague racial antipathies which have hitherto formed the source of political unrest are disappearing, or may perhaps be more correctly said to be overshadowed by the definite doctrines of free food. President Kruger was a few days before Christmas induced to give some indefinite assurance of reform during the current year. Oom Paul, it appears, was waited upon by a representative of the Johannesburg 'Star' to see if some message could be extracted giving promise of better things for the residents of the afflicted Johannesburg. Considering that from beginning to end the Johannesburg 'Star' curses tlie Boer Government and Kruger up hill and down dale, in fact indulges in numerous vituperative outbursts against Transvaal's President wrhich might be held up as shining examples of this description of journalism, a flattering reception could hardly have been expected. But Kruger is evidently' not of the thin-; skinned variety, and the only objection the Under-Secretary of State' could see might be raised was one embodying a story characteristic of the President. Kruger, it appears, had been suffering tortures with his eyes, and had been ordered by his medical attendants to apply an ice compress for the purpose of allaying the inflammation, but. misunderstanding the directions given, he had applied the ice internally (forcing it into the eye socket) instead of externally, and had thereby increased his sufferings. However the interview was granted, and President Kruger after specifying all sorts of conditions so that his words should not be misrepresented, proceeded to roam into assurances of his devout desire that the people of all nationalities in the Transvaal should live in contentment and prosperity; and,he said, he made no distinction in his efforts to achieve this- end between Boer or Britisher, Hollander or German. All he asked, and all he expected, of any citizen or resident of the Republic was that he should conform to its laws, and prove himself worthy of the Government's confidence and consideration. He had already secured certain reductions in the cost of living, and it was his aim and intention to continue his efforts in the same direction as far as possible.

When driven into a corner and asked point blank what these further remissions would be the diplomatic Kruger said that the matter was not wholly in his hands, and he was not, therefore, in a position to make any direct or definite promise to the people of Johannesburg, but he could assure them of his anxiety and intention to procure for them such additional relief as lay in his power, and this assurance he held out to them as a Christmas and New Year message of friendship and goodwill. A lot more to the same effect flowed glibly from the mouth of the President, but there may be ' some real substratum of intention in his indefinite promises, for the same paper that received permission to publish this Christmas -message states 'on . high authority' that an endeavour will be, made during the February session to remit taxes and food duties, which fall hardly on the : poorer part of the community, and that the policy of direct taxation now inaugurated ' will be counterbalanced by a remission of indirect taxation where possible and expedient.

Were something substantial done in this direction and the mining leoislation liberalised a trifle, it fs more than probable that we would hear less of the grievances of the Uitlanders.