MYTHICAL MILLIONS

Hawera Star, Volume L, 29 November 1930, Page 9

MYTHICAL MILLIONS

TN the collection of documents' in the possession of Dr. W. J. Leyds, former .State Secretary of the South African Republic, ia said to be a complete account- of the finances of the Boer Republics during the war, which, it is' understood, reveal that the- Tumours of the so-called! Kruger millions have no foundation, says the “Capo Times. ’ ’ Colonel .Dencys Reitz stated that Dr. Ley els a few days ago had sent him three little volumes, entitled ‘ ‘Loyds, 1599-T900.” Whether the volumes, which contain numerous letters of State j*- of the period when Dr. Leyds was Ambassador of t'hei South African .Republic ini Europe, are a resume of the archives possessed by Dr. Leyds is unknown, but mention is certainly made in them of large sums of money banked by the Republics in Europe before the war. .Dr. Leyds in these three volumes deals with the sulb,je'et of the Kruger .millions, stating that globular sums were, deposited by the Republics before the. war with La .Bouehore, Ovens, and Co., .bankers, of Amsterdam. These sunns according to Dr. Leyds, were drawn upon very considerably by the Government of the South African Republic- for war supplies, payment being m’ado through the bankers in Amsterdam. ’“The Portuguese, according to Dr. Leyds,” said Colonel Reitz, “were not, long in issuing a comprehensive list of what; they considered tot be contraband of war, and no articles enumerated on this list wotc permitted to reach the Transvaal. Mention is made of one amount of £200,000 spent on five batteries of artillery from Krupps in 1900, but whether these batteries arrived hero I do not know. It is clear, however, that- considerable, sums were expended in Europe by the. Boer Republics during the war.

Kruger Had No Treasure

1 ‘These moneys do not constitute what are; known to the public-as the Kruger millions. The legend of t'he Kruger millions started at the time President Kruger left the country. The popular idea is that at some time or other millions, of money were buried or otherwise hidden before lie left the country. These mythical millions' are said to be hidden, as everyone knows, in almost every district of the Transvaal.

“In my opinion, what arc known m. the public mind as the Kruger millions never really existed.” 'Colonel Reitz is of the opinion that the three volumes recently sent him by Dr. Leyds from Holland will constitute a really valuable guide -to historians interested in the Boer War period. In one of the introductory paragraphs to the first volume of the letters of the 1599-1900 period, Dr. Leyds state's that it has not been attempted to give a complete picture of money matters at the time. He declares, however that the so-called Kruger millions existed only in. the minds of mis'chiefmakers. '“During the war,” he. says, V gold Was never sent out of Africa to Europe, neither to the President nor to ime.’ There were moneys to the credit of the Republic in Europe, but these moneys were there when the war broke out.”

In letters published in the volumes mention is made of the withdrawal of large sums for various purposes. In his foreword Dr. Leyds state® that the volumes arc intended in the. first instance' to be an amplification of the collection published in 1919, and secondly to deal with the .period! .from the outbreak of the Boer War to the coming of the deputation (Pis'chor, Weasels, and Wolmnrans) in'April, 1900.