SOUTHERN RHODESIA

Evening Star, Issue 23093, 20 October 1938, Page 9

SOUTHERN RHODESIA

INTERESTING WORD PICTURE ADDRESS BY MR L. C. TENHEHT Thirty-nine years away from his native heath. Such has been the lot of Mr L. C. Tennent, member of a wellknown Dunedin family, who, returning to the city only a few days ago, delivered a very interesting address to members of the Dunedin Travel Club at their fortnightly gathering yesterday. Mr Tennent, still in his ’teens and little more than a lad, left Dunedin as a member of the 4th New Zealand Contingent of volunteers who went to the Boer War. That gallant band numbered 400. “ To-day I am the last returning member of that contingent,” he told his listeners, with a smile, this morning. Mr Tennent, following service with the 4th Contingent, returned to Wellington and embarked almost immediately with the 10th Contingent, only to find that shortly after arrival back in South Africa the war had finished. So enamoured was he of the great continent that he decided to remain there and seek his fortune, but he was very pleased, he said, to come back to meet some of the old friends who were still alive. “ I was very taken with the wonderful sunshine in South Africa,” he said, “ and being but a youngster I thought there would be possibilities there for me.” Mr Tennent, continuing, said he bad a relative in that country at the time who suggested that he start a hostel, as the farmers in the locality were rather tired of putting up visitors. So with a partner he started in the hostel business, erecting a small building at a place where the men had fought*over, and while his partner conducted the hostel he acted as guide to the tourists. Among those he conducted to the top of some prominent landmark was Mr Joseph Chamberlain, the father of Britain’s present Prime Minister. The latter had remarked that he had met New Zealanders on London Bridge and in all manner of places, but he never expected to find one on top of that particular hill. Mr Tennent said South Africa was a very interesting country. The servant problem there did not exist. Every house usually had three native boys, one to do the washing, one for the house, and one for the garden. This gave one time to go out and enjoy himself, he said, but it had its drawbacks, as the boys were inclined to get slovenly if not watched. The mines made South Africa, said Mr Tennent, and they were turning out 1.000,000 ounces of gold a month. Where it went to was hard to say—probably into the vaults of the banka in America and England. “ What are we going to do with all this gold if the present rate of production continues?’ he asked. He had travelled quite a Hot since his return, the speaker continued, and while it was a wonderful pleasure to see the green'grass after the brown dried growth of Africa, one thing that impressed him was the apparent lack of minerals as one saw them in Africa. Mr Tennent said his home was in Southern Rhodesia, which in climate was something like New Zealand. There were no foreigners there, as in the South African Union, where there were a lot of Dutch, and where the language problem was a drawback. Rhodesia had a (population of 65,000 whites, and was U times the size of New Zealand. Its output of gold, too, was great, he said, being 65,000 ounces a month, or one ounce per head of population. The country was 5,000 feet high, so that, while they were getting very close to the Equator, the altitude brought the climate back to something akin to that of this Dominion, only that Rhodesia got a tremendous amount more brilliant sunshine than New Zealand.

The best type of farming there was tobacco culture, and the country had a ! very fine trade with the Homeland. Thev also had asbestos and chrome mines, which were very valuable. The country, continued Mr Tennent, was governed by a House of 27 members, one member from each division, and each member had only about 1,200 electors. Dr Huggins, a very dever man, was the Prime Minister. Tourist trade to Rhodesia was also considerable. the speaker said, people visiting the Victoria Falls and the graves of Cecil Rhodes and his lieutenant, Dr Jamieson. Schooling was cheap in Rhodesia,and if a youngster showed any aptitude ho could get a bursary which would give him a free university training in South Africa.

While hjs home was in Southern Rhodesia, Mr Tennent said, his business was in Tanganyika, which prior to the war had belonged to Germany. This territory was just south of Kenya Colorw. another British territory. It was of high altitude, and Europeans could live there quite comfortably. Tanganyika had only 13,000 white people in the territory, ho said. There was nothing there for whites to do except serve in the civil service. These people came out from Home, usually on two years’ service, and then they had eight months’ leave. “ There are 3.000 Germans in the territory, and we are a very happy family,” he said. “ Those who come out from Germany are very keen business men, and if those in Germany are the same as those who come out, they are a race we should'cultivate,” he added.

Mr Tennent also touched upon the political machinery, of the Union of South Africa, the legislators being mostly Dutch. With the tremendous output fpra the mines, he said tho Finance Minister generally showed a surplus at the end of each year of about five or six millions.

This led Mr Gibson, the chairman, when thanking Mr Tennent for his very interesting address, to laughingly remark that perhaps if New Zealand ran short of money, which he hoped it would not, it might be able to borrow a few millions from South Africa.