PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2201, 7 May 1896, Page 51

PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Transvaal and the Uitlamlers.

" History Making and Empire Expansion " was my headline last week, and this week I intend to draw attention to one or two articles in the reviews to haarj, practically taking up the same subject.

It seems to me that we are living in times in which the changes on the maps and the events we are witnessing are making history on as large a scale as, and more rapidly than, even in the days of Elizabeth.

Perhaps no class of literature is more a reflex of the times than tha reviews — periodicals rilled with the writings of men who, by their position, speak with authority and show possibly what are the more permanent influences at work than perhaps even the daily "press. Then, taking the reviews as our guide, let ns see what the trend of thought and action is at present. In the Nineteenth Century for February alone are the following articles :—": — " Facts About the Venezuelan Boundary," "The Relations of France and Ergland," " Oar True Foreign Policy," "Protection of Our Commerce in War," " Corn Stores for War Times," "The Proposed German Barrier Across Africa," " Note on the Anglo-French Convention in Siaro," and "Slavery Under the British Flag." In the National Review for the same month we have " The Keynote of Out Foreign Policy." " The Commwxd oi

the Sea and British Policy," •■ The Chartered Company and Matabill Land," " Oa Military Problems— For Civilian Readers," "Tiflis." Aud yet these reviews aro by no mean 3 favoured by military readers and empirebuilders. They simply reflect public opinion. If there were reviews in Elizabeth's reigo, would the list dealing with empire expansion have been longer I

Bat I do not intend to notice any of these articles, but simply to confine myself to one that appears in the New Review dealing with South Africa, and perhaps another dealing with trade in the Far Bast.

The first is written by the secretary of the British South African Company, aud he speaks from the fulness of his information. He has been many years in South Africa, and has had special means of keeping himself in touch with South African affairs. He accompanied the Hon. Cecil Rhodes to England on his last and hurried visit. In a very clear manner the population, government, and prospects of the South African portions are dealt with. The Cape, which we took from the Dutoh, is a self-governing colony in which the majority, the Dutch, is ruled by the minority, the British, but citizenship is equal to both, and there are no distinctions drawn as to language or education, In the Transvaal 120,000 Uitlanders, mostly British, are in a majority, and are controlled by a minority, the -Dutch, numbering 14,000; while in the Orange Free State the Dutch aie both in a majority and are the rulers.

Iv the Transvaal the Uitlandera own one* half the property, and pay nine-tenths of the revenue. Their number will most probably ! be a quarter of a million before the close of the century, and it is believed that they will soon produce two-thirds of the world's yellow met&l. So the writer argues, and reasonably enough, that 4Jit landers being what they are wiil not much longer tolerate the military despotism and disabilities imposed upon them by aome 14,000 Boer burghers. Further, the wealth and population of the Transvaal must exercise a controlling influence in South African affairs.

The three courses that events can take are then outlice-J, and a federation of the provinces dealt with, as if they formed a United States resembling the Dominion of Canada, the Boers being the disturbing influence in South Africa as the French are in Quebec province. The federation may be a United States of South Africa independent of European domination and hostile to Britain as the colonies were in America, or united under the German fUg, or an appendage to the British Crown. Which is it to be 1

German and Dutch influences have been working very strongly. The jack-boot of German mercenaries is Been everywhere. Garman officers have been imported to teach the Boer artillerymen how to shoot down tbe Ultlanders, who provide the money to buy the Gatling guns and Erupp cannon. Two hundred and fifty thousand pounds have been spent ia forts and munitions for Pretoria, and £100,000 in a fort at Johannesburg. A company of Hollanders has been granted a monopoly in dynamite, and the ■ mines are paying £600,000 a year above the market value of the explosives they use. All this money is comirg out of the pockets of Uitlanders. All positions of trust and influence are controlled by Hollanders, and they own the ratlwaya, Johannesburg is closed against the Cape by heavy duties, and everything is done to throw tbe whole of the agricultural and pastoral trade into the hands of the Transvaal Boer*, and all import trade into German and Hollander bands at Delagoa. British goods are boycotted as much as possible, and German productions favoured ; education is wretched ; protection to life and property ditto ; and bribery and , corruption are rampant. Children born of Uitlanders in the Transvaal can have no political rights unless their fathers take the oath imposing military service, an oath, however, which gives no franchise.

We have read a great deal about the Uitlandera' demands. The following are the most of them :—

1. The establishment of a republic on true republican lines, not an autocracy oc despotism. 2. An equitable franohiee. 3. The equality of the English and Dutch languages. 4. Removal of religious disabilities. 5. Purity of the Uw courts. 6. A libecal aud comprehensive educational system. 7. An efficient civil service, with adequate pay and a reasonable pension. 8. Freetcada in South African products. These, at any rate, do not contain any out-of-the-way request!". In another portion of his article the company's ssoretary gives figures showing the progress of the company and the large areas involved in the intrigues afoot. The company governs an area 2000 miles long by 1000 miles t>road, peopled by about 2,000,000 natives and an ever-increasing British population, intensely loyal in sentiment and commerce; — no Hollander, Boer, or Garman need apply. The revenue of the comparv '- "tva?ed from £15,000 in 1895 to £38,0 0 ia 1 396, and a ton of mail matter a we-cit u u w enters the company's territories. Accompanying the paper is a map, showing the relative siza of the territories involved compared with England. Cape Colony is three times and thrae-quarters as large as England— or Britain, I really forget whicb ; German South-west Africa, four times ; South African Republic (Transvaal), one and a-half times; Orange Free State, half as large; British South African Company's concessions, seven times and a-half ; German East Africa, four times and a-half; and tbe Shire Highlands, half the size. Several smaller divisions are not included. The company's tentacles reach to Tanganyika,, on the south point of wbich is

Aberoorn exactly west of It, ar/d oa ih'i Upper Oongo (tho LufUb*.), la rt«j outpost Rhodesia; and on the north at Bangweolo is Fort Rosebety— ail rwine* after men connected with the present exparK &ic.n of British territory tbore, jußt as'PittaV burg, for instance, was aaraed after th« Elder Pitt, whose vig.Mo is foreign polioy ia the Seven Years' War wrested it from France, when it was changed to Pittsburg from Fort Dv Quesue. All the other settlements appearing on the map, and more, I have given in previous Ohats. After reading the article, and I have only given two or three of its salient points ona oannot help feeling a little admiration fox the man whose foresight, determination, and patriotic liberality has stayed German. Hollander, and Boer progress, and prevented the Germans reaching from ooean to ocean. I have again to thank my Fortroae cob respondent for " Home Lecture Notes." Thi article forwarded in fall I may make use oi soon.

And I tbi»k I had perhaps, better allow the Far East to stand over.