GREATEST GOLDFIELD

Evening Star, Issue 19346, 4 September 1926, Page 22

GREATEST GOLDFIELD

SECOND DEEPEST MINE IN THE WORLD [Written by Frederick Stubbs, F.R.G.S., for the ‘ Evening Star.’] This is situated, of course, at Johannesburg, the metropolis of the Transvaal, the biggest city in South _Afnca, ’> 735 ft above sea level and 957 miles from Cape Town. It dates from 1886, when Paul Kruger proclaimed the V iiwatersrand (the white water’s ridge) a digging. The population of the dis- , rict was then 50; a year later it was ,000; to-day it is 291,000. of whom 160,000 are Europeans .and 115,000 naives. Johannesburg possesses the attributes of a great European city~a university, excellent schools, town hall, parks, trams, handsome theatres, law courts, churches, and hospitals. The. i.M.C.A. is one of the most luxurious ! know of. It is a busy, dusty, smoky ■ity. The thoroughfares are fairly wide, bub, as in the case of many other cities, not wide enough for the increasjijr traffic. The strict names arc mostly Dutch, and therefore rather difficult for an Englishman to remem■r. Some of the suburbs are very beautiful. Many quaint homes and .ither buildings .are seen, in a different tylo of architecture from that with • Inch many of us are familiar, and uore beautiful. There are rickshaws iere, as at Durban, but they are not ised by Europeans except for luggage, hie is struck with the largo number if natives in the streets and by the lumber of Jewish faces, for a large ■iroportion of the business and wealth 1 Johannesburg is in the hands of the Jews. I found Jews even on the bowling green—an unusual thing in my^experience, and a pleasing one. They share with the English the dominance of the city, the Dutch having quite a second place. On Sundays I was much amused by watching natives outside .the clothiers’ windows studying the fashions. They would sometimes stand there for half an hour. Many of the young men wore dressed in the latest European style, with collars, cuffs, brightly-colored ties, and even patent leather boots. Nearly all manual labor is done by natives. PAYMENT OF TOWN COUNCILLORS.

Whilst I was in this district a couroversy raged over the payment oi own councillors. These had voted

J2.)D a year to themselves, but on the jroposal being put to the ratepayers t was rejected, and the councillors cere charged for taking money out of the ratepayers’ pockets. The majority of the councillors, however, still hung on to the payment, on the ground that they had a right to vote any salaries they pleased, and they pleased to vole alaries to tnemselves. Why shouldn’t ffiey? The honor and power the counullorship carried was not sufficient. I io not know whether it is the custom tor town councillors to vote themselves salaries out of the rates elsewhere. The practice might raise an interesting mint, which I -certainly would not proiumc to decide, it is the ratepayers it Johannesburg who arc concerned in his case, ami they may have coin© to lie conclusion that their council is ■ompo.scd of exceptionally able men, .vho should be exceptionally well paid. THE MINES

But it is the mines which interest -.ho visitor most. These extend along ho reef for sixty miles and produce core than half the total output of the world. They employ 18,000 Europeans md I*Bo,ooo colored people. _ The total uitput from the discovery : n 1886 to the end of 1924 is estimated at £804,'OO,OOO, and of tins vast sum £628,000,100 has been distributed in South Africa in payment of working expenses, md many more millions to shareholders. Last year 2,483,449nz were proluced, which sold for £11,591,000. The uandard price is 85s per ounce, but in D2U it went up to £6 7s 6d. It is nearly all sold in London, which still ■eraams the gold market of the world, i’ho ore, being low grade, could not ho worked, .1 am told, without black .abor. Unskilled, cheap white labor was tried and failed. Portuguese East African natives have been the mainnay of the industry, though recently the proportion of British South African natives has been largely increased. The natives are housed m large compounds and provided with rations, their rood being chiefly porridge made from beans, Kaffir bread composed of 80 per cent, mcalio meal and 20 per cent, iiour, and meal. Like most native races, they eat only twice a day, and seldom cat in the minesPHTHISIS.

Phthisis is tho chief scourge of the mines, particles of dust filling ihe Jungs and setting up diseases. In tho early years the death rate was very high, many weakly men being employed, but to-day there is a preliminary medical examination, which weeds out tho unfit. In case of sickness, hospitals aro provided, aaid where death ensues provision is made for dependents, over £5,000,01)0 having already been paid under this bead. For those attacked, but able to work, light jobs found. Both natives and Europeans aro liable to attack, and 1 for one would not take on the underground work at any price; but it is only fair to add that Europeans are well paid, and that not only hospitals, but cricket, football, tennis, golf, baths, recreation halls, reading rooms, libraries, etc., arc provided by the company. Officials get about £4O per month, European workmen about £3O, with bonuses; natives £8 to £9 per month. No one under sixteen is employed. Holidays receive full pay. 1 believe that the great strike of 1922, when many lives were lost, was largely due to the fact that wages had been reduced and a large number of redundant employees discharged. DOWN AMONGST THE GOLD. I took .advantage of an introduction to go down what is tho second deepest mine in the world, the deepest being in Brazil. It is known as the Village Deep, and was quite deep enough tor me, one and one-third miles. This particular mine employs 1,000 whites and 8.000 natives, and crushes 100,000 tons of rock per month at a profit of £70,000. It was interesting to learn that 100.000 tons of rock produce about 40,000 ounces of gold. A dividend of 50 per cent, is paid (lucky shareholders), and an average of £IO,OOO worth of gold is sent away, every week. The manager of the mines is Mr Sberwell, the once famous English cricketer, whom 1 had often seen in tho fields.

Getting into a largo cage, w'c were suddenly plunged into darkness as wo descended to the first of twenty-two levels, 3,300 ft below the surface, the trip taking one and a-half minutes. It was an awe-inspiring journey down a narrow timber shaft, in total dnrkness, at a torific pace, and one could not help speculating as to what would happen if anything went wrong with the works. Even a 3ft fall is enough for me. The levels are about 2-50 ft apart, and extend, I suppose, for miles; are dark, narrow', damp, dirty, with rails along which' hundreds of little trucks are rushing to and fro, requiring considerable alertness to avoid. Here and there you see half-naked black figures hewing, or shovelling, or preparing to blast the rock. To go down a gold mine is an interesting but disappointing experience. When you go down a coal mine you at least see plenty of coal; when you go down a salt mine you see salt; but in a gold mine you discern no gold—only rock and dirt and timber props. Above, one sees cyanide dumps extending for miles and looking

like huge greyish-white bills. But it is a wonderful industry, conducted with an amount of knowledge ami skill and labor that are almost appalling. It supports, or helps to support, a vast number of human beings, though whether the world as a whole is really happier because of its gold mines may be questioned. Eortuntdy for Johannesburg, other industries are increasing, including the cultivation of the land and the production of food. Looking at the city as a whole, it is wonderful as regards its growth and its mines, and it is certainly not beautiful, and has few social attractions. Personally, 1 should much prefer to live in one of the other great cities.