AFRICAN JOURNEY

Evening Star, Issue 26067, 3 April 1947, Page 11

AFRICAN JOURNEY

DRAMATIC SALVAGE STORY MORI IMPRESSIONS OF CAPE TOWN (By Diana.) CAPE TOWN, March 14. The epic story of the salvage of the City of Lincoln, an 8,000-ton British cargo ship, which struck a reef at Quoin Point last November, was front page news iii Cape Town to-day, overshadowing even the reports of the Royal tour. The dramatic tale of the 41-liour tow from the reef was splashed across the front page of both papers, and a big crowd of Cape Townians took time off from work to line the docks as the ship came slowly into port. Cheers echoed across the water as the two big tugs manoeuvred the helpless vessel into the harbour basin. As she approached the entrance air bubbles could be seen swirling up from the port 6ide amidship and a. compressor on board could be heard full out to counteract the loss of pressure from the leaks in the main hold. She was a sorry sightfrom close up, with rusty sides and decks, and the starboard side of the afterdeck stove in. It had been an anxious and slow journey with the salvors fearing at times that the ship might break up and sink under them after they had managed to get her off the reef which had held her fast for four months. .Rumour fixes the cost of the salvage at about £IOO,OOO, or even more, but for the owners and underwriters this is only the beginning of worries that they estimate may take five or six years to settle. Already many consignees have refused to accept their cargo, either because they consider that it is damaged or because they prefer to buy on a falling market. The ship is likely to bo a familiar sight in Table Bay for the best part of a year while her remaining cargo.is discharged and her hull repaired temporarily. Down to Cape Point In spite of the heat we thoroughly enjoyed a day’s motoring with Airs A. P. Thorne, who was born and brought up in Dunedin. Airs Thorne has been living in South Africa for about 40 years, but will be remembered' as Aliss Allanetta McLeod, - whose sister was Miss Alargaret McLeod, a popular art teacher at Otago Girls’ High School. In the morning we motored nlong the De Waal Drive to the Rhodes Alemorial, an impressive monument of lovely brown granite, built on the lower slopes of the mountain, not far from the university. The figure of Cecil Rhodes, mounted on horseback, gazes northwards up the continent with whoso destiny he was so closely connected, while behind him there is a wide flight of steps flanked by eight magnificent lions, leading to a terrace from which there is a view of all the flat land between False Bay and Table Bay. After lunch Mrs Thorne took us by car right round the peninsula. The way lay first along the shore of False Bay to Simon’s Town, Cape Town’s naval base.. Then, we climbed up over Red Hill, and from the summit we saw the rugged peninsula ahead of us. There is very little habitation except for a few scattered homesteads and a few native settlements. for the land is mostly rocky and covered with scrub. An excellent road leads right down to the Cape of Good Hope, where are a lighthouse and a few houses. We came bade along the west side of the peninsula, passing lovely white sandy beaches, where the sea looked too treacherous for bathing, on a fine tar-sealed road, which led eventually to the suburbs that stretch along the sea front, nestling in the narrow strip of land between Table Alountain and the sea. Queues for Everything The people of Cape Town have taken to quev.es as naturally as a duck takes to water, and accept them now as a matter of course, though they tell us that queueing was practically unknown before the war. When in'(Rome do as the Romans do—so we get into line and wait patiently to buy a stamp, to get a seat in a restaurant, to buy a ticket for the swimming pool, to cash a cheque, to buy a train ticket or to catch a bus. At the busy hours bus queues stretch for two or three blocks, but the buses run so frequently that even if you are two blocks down the queue it probably takes only

about 10 minutes before you get a seat in the bus. And you do get a seat. An inspector stands at the head of the queue, and when all the seats are taken he stops any more passengers from entej-ina. It is all very orderly and much pleasanter than joining in the mad scramble for seats in a tram or bus that we are used 'to in Dunedin. Shoe Styles Shoes in Cape Town are much more exotic and glamorous than in Dunedin. Most of them are of a high standard of manufacture, and are consequently very expensive. Beach sandals and play shoes of lovely coloured leathers, blue, grey, red, or yellow, or of canvas, range from 25s to £3 3s. For more formal wear there aro white suede ones, toe peepers with open heels, in every variety. Platform soles of very thick cork are popular with high heels, and others with wedge soles of cork that look, to our eyes at any rate, far too heavy, especially if they are worn by a tiny woman. Thick cork soles are seen, too, on walking shoes of brown, fawn, black, or navy bine. Swiss, American, or English makes are sold for anytning from £3 to £7 or £B, and though they look attractive in a climate like this, one imagines how awkward it would be on a winter day in Dunedin to be wearing the toeless, heelless variety of shoe that is almost universal here. Certainly it is. a comfortable fashion here, and as not a. drop of rain has fallen since November' the lack of protection from wet does not matter. The General Speaks There was something mystic and magic about South Africa—an eerie loveliness that should be an inspiration to all artists who lived there—said General Smuts when he opened the Sir Abe. Bailey collection of pictures in the National Gallery in Cape Town one morning recently. It was a real thrill for us to hear the famous general speak, and to be so close to him in the small room of the gallery that we could watch the play of expression on his face. Ho hns one of the most intensely alive faces that 1 have ever seen, with twinkly blue eyes that light up, and a keen sense of humour that bubbles through his words. It wab an informal occasion, and the general kept Ms audience amused with his asides and interjections until he settled down to the serious part of his speech, in which he spoke feelingly of the beauty of South Africa and of his firm conviction that it should be an inspiration to the artists who belong to it. After the speeches we wandered round the gallery, which contains many fine works by the old masters, though, like New Zealand galleries, it seems to have few works by local artists. The entrance hall has an unusual ceiling decoration of panels of native wild flowers and animals. Cape Town has another fine collection of Flemish and Dutch paintings of the seventeenth century, the Max Michaelis gift to the Union. This is housed in the old Town House in the centre of the city, an interesting building which was used in the eighteenth century as a Burgher Watch House, where the Burgher guard which patrolled the city at night was mounted, and where the arms of the militia were kept. Later it came into the possession of the City Fathers, when the Cape Town, Municipality was established, and remained the Town House till the City Hall was opened in 1905. In 1939 the building was proclaimed a national monument, and now forms an ideal home for the , works of the old Dutch masters.