EUROPEANS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Northern Advocate, 17 August 1931, Page 4

EUROPEANS IN SOUTH AFRICA

The growth of the white population in the Union of_ South Africa is a matter in which the British Empire is very intimately concerned. It is therefore interesting to hear that the prelimim ary results of the recent census show that the Union’s European population has increased hy 148,204, or 8.84 per cent., since 1926, and now totals 1,825,527. Important changes in Parliamentary representation are involved by this increase. It will mean that the House of Assembly will attain its maximum strength of 150 members provided by the Act of Union. The preferential treatment formerly given to Natal and the Orange Free State will disappear. The official forecast is that after the next delimitation the Gape will gain three seats and , the Transvaal two, while Natal will lose one seat and the Free* State two, making the Parliamentary position as follows Cape, 61 seats; Transvaal, 57; Natal, 16; Free State, 16. Significant of -.the' drift from the country to the town is the fact that the increase in population has taken place in urban areas only. The shift of population has been to the Transvaal and Natal from the Free State and the Cape; in other words, from relatively dry parts of the Union to areas of relatively better rainfall. The countryside has not maintained its natural increase. The movement oi population has been practically equal with the -natural increase The* director of the Census considers that different methods of farming have to be followed more adaptable to the need of carrying a larger rural population. He is also convinced that modern farming methods, resulting in less labour being necessary, also helped to account for the decrease in the rural population.