WEALTHY SOUTH AFRICA

Evening Star, Issue 23564, 1 May 1940, Page 8

WEALTHY SOUTH AFRICA

GROWTH OF THE CITIES TRAVELLER COMPARES TWO VISITS A country that was poor, not in fabulous mineral riches, but agriculturally, and one also that was subject to droughts and pests, was the summing up by Mr J. H. Hinton of South Africa, about which he spoke to the Travel Club to-day. It was his fixed opinion, formed after two visits to South Africa, the first one being in 1922 and the later trip last year, that New Zealand, with its climate, and despite some drawbacks, was a better country in which to live, even if the people of South Africa were the lightest taxed of any in the British Empire because of the mineral wealth it possessed. A man of moderate means, mentioned Mr Hinton, paid a personal tax of only £l, and natives 10s. The progress of South Africa since he was there 18 years ago drew from Mr Hinton ■ some very useful comment. Durban he at once regarded as the city beautiful. Its pride was its flamboyance in flower, the residential streets being arched over with flowering trees. This great city in 1922 comprised 27 square miles, and now it had spread to 67 square miles. Being a councillor himself (of the St. Kilda Council), Mr Hinton was naturally interested in the municipal control of Durban and other cities he visited. He said that the Durban City Council was among the largest trading concerns in the Northern Hemisphere, and its rating system was one of the simplest in existence. On land 6d in the £ was rated, and 3d in the £ on buildings, which was enough to give the council the £5,000,000 that was budgeted for annually. The municipal authority controlled the marketing of fruit, and even brewed and sold beer to the native population as a sub-

stituto for the stronger beer supplied to the white people. Johannesburg, considered Mr Hinton, had stretched its boundaries tremendously since 1922. and now had a population of half a million. The city Was a network of principal streets, with their centre, the city hall, and the post office. It would not be a far-fetched metaphor to say that Johannesburg was now a miniature New York. Mr W. R. Brugh presided at the function, which was well attended, the gathering including several visitors. Mesdames Gerald Fitzgerald and W. A. Jenkins were the hostesses.