"A LITTLE BORDER TOWN."

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 15000, 15 May 1900, Page 1

"A LITTLE BORDER TOWN."

THE MOST DISCUSSED CORNER OF THB BRITISH EMPIRE. Mateking itself is not much more than a geographical term. It is a little border town which has been brought into unwonted prominenca through the exigencies of the war. Normally, it is a busy place for its size, and has thrived for the last good many years on the up-country traffic with Bechuanaland, and more recently with tbe rapidly developing townships of Rhodesia. Tho town norma'ly is very healthy. There is a good supply of water, and at least two rivers — the Moloppo and the Ramathl-aba-ma Spruit — are available for a good water supply. There is absolutely nothing picturesque/ about fhe town, It is dumped down, as it were, promiscuously in the middle of the ' bare brown veldt. There are a-'few trees, a little gardening has been done, and here and there the rocks form bold outlines" against the deep blue sky ; but otherwise the surrounding country is nothing but a dreary WTnste^whkh^howeyjsrjjivitl^^

and irrigation MIGHT PRODUCE ANYTHING on a most prolific scale. Comparatively lecently the cultivation of olives has been attemrup-l in' the neighbourhood, and has been "i.n.«»aed with some success. There arc great possibilities for the future in this direction. As a trade centre Mafeking is unique in South Africa in so far as it is half-way between tho civilisation of tbe north as far as the Zambesi, and even bevond. The firm of Weil has done much towards helping the prosperity of the town They are a great trading firm with branches innumerable towards the north, and are much respected by traders and natives alike. During the siego the place, of course, . has been subject to very trying ordeals, and .it will be handed down in history as one of the pluckiest garrisons ever known iu the records of modern warfare Sinco the railway has touched Mafeking it has, of course, largely extended its trading possibilities, although it has always been a centre for hunters from the north, nativo chiefs from the west, and Boer farmers from' the east. Under the Customs Union Convention tbe town has been declared a free warehousing port, which means that goods may be purchased there from bonded stores under rebate. This is t of course, a most important point to those-who load up their waggons i there for trading purposes to the north. ,The social possibilities of tbe town have always been small hitherto, becau?e the population has been of a very migratory order, but henceforward, particularly after the friendships cemented during the time of the siege, it may be expected that Mafeking will endure a moro settled population.