FROM SOUTH AFRICA

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6384, 5 December 1907, Page 6

FROM SOUTH AFRICA

DEPRESSION AT THE CARE. HOMES FOR THE DESTITUTE. RHODESIA BRIGHTER. “There arc hundreds of men out of work in every port. Those who can got away are doing so, but others have to I stop there.” , , This is the long and the short of things; in South Africa at present, even iriing to Mr F. F. Powell, who lias spent the last eight years there. in Capetown, he says, things are very bad. There is absolutely nothing doing, and hundred's are idle When he was there there was onlv one ship in tlie port. As a mciniß of relief, the. municipality of Durban maintain an institution called the Durban Home. Tho destitute get 2s a day for breaking fitoncs for tho Corporation. Out of this they have to give a day for their bed, and they get coupons for thoir meals at the home. Durban is tho only .place where they maintain homes of this kin-d. Johannes birrg used to maintain one, but it has been closed. There were heartrending scenes at the closing of it, women and children being sent away witli no idea where they would got. their next meal. DON’T GO TO AFRICA. “It is certainly not advisable to go to South Africa just now," said Mr Powell most emphatically. There is a very wi'vcro slump at present, and people with capital could pick up property in Capetown very cheap, and make a good deal out of it when things improved, Tho other ports are in very much the same condition. In Johannesburg also there are very many unemployed. The dullness extends right through tho Transvaal, Orangia, and Natal, but in Rhodesia things begin to look a little brighter. There the small miners arc getting a bettor chance than they used to, though things would be still better if the country was handed over to tfte Britisli Government, instead of being administered by tho Chartered Company. Tho company is not so considerate to the smaller men as it might be; in fact, it expects to get something like 30 per cent, of their profits. In spite of this mining is improving every day. There are a number of three, five, and ten stamp batteries which are doing very well. There is plenty of black labour to he had, the natives having now become more settled than they were during tho war. THE RICHES OF RHODESIA. Rhodesia is tremendously rich. In fact, the limitations of its resources, both mineral nnd agricultural, are not, yet known. There are immense areas ’ of rich pastoral land., though on the other hand there are wide expanses of arid country which could never bo cultivated. Cattle suffer a good deal from rinderpest ami East Coast fever, which, however, is being gradually stamped out. The greatest peot, however, is the locust, .which may sweep a farm right out. Sheep aro just being introduced into the country. One evidence of tho bright prospects is the importation of a great quantity of new rolling-stock for the Beira-Mashonaland Railway Company, which owns nearly two thousand miles of line. HOPE FOE THE FHTHRB. In. spite of the depression throughout South Africa, there are many encouraging signs. The Transvaal Government is very popular in the country, and promises to be a great success. It has saved the country from tho capitalists, and has helped greatly to dissipate the race feeling which prevailed after the war.