regions too dry for maize, was also an increasingly valuable crop. The area under wheat is mainly in the western part of Cape prov- ince; the production, 362,000,000 Ib. in 1911, rose to 608,000,000 in 1917-8, but fell the next year to 478,000,000 Ib. Of oats 48,454,000 Ib. were exported in 1919.
Sugar plantations are confined to Natal and Zululand. The area under sugar in 1916-7 was 163,000 ac., the production that year being 114,000 tons and the value 3,134,000. In 1919-20 the output was approximately 180,000 tons, of which over 30,000 tons were exported. The cultivation of tea declined, sugar yielding greater profits; the yield for 1916-7 was 1,747,000 Ib., compared with 2,681,000 in 1903, the year of highest production. Tobacco produc- tion did not show great variation in quantity during 1910-20, the yield being 15,000,000 to 17,000,000 Ib. yearly, but there was con- siderable alteration in the class of tobacco grown, due to the increased demand for light and medium varieties. Cigarettes from locally grown Turkish tobacco became very popular.
Fruits of many varieties are produced for which there is a very large home demand, especially in the mining areas. The export trade, in fresh, bottled, canned and dried fruit and in jams showed a fair amount of extension and in 1919 was valued at 125,000.
Plantations of black wattle for the production of tan-bark cover about 250,000 ac., of which 160,000 are in Natal. Before the World War the bark was taken by Germany; factories for the production of the extract were erected in Natal in 1919 and the extract sent to Great Britain. The value of the exports increased from 269,000 in 1916 to 412,000 in 1918.
Irrigation. Considerable progress was made in local irrigation schemes, but no great project had been undertaken by the Union Government up to 1922. The opposition of vested interests stood in the way of an adequate water law for the whole country, but in 1912 an Irrigation and Conservation of Waters Act was passed and an Irrigation Department created. Provision was made for irrigation loans to private persons and to irrigation boards, and for hydro- graphic surveys, etc. The government expenditure on irrigation increased from 276,000 in 1912-3 to 573,000 in 1917-8. By 1920 schemes involving an expenditure of 2,500,000 had been approved. The Sunday river, Cape province, irrigation works were the largest then under construction and were designed to bring 42,000 ac. under cultivation.
Mining. Despite appearances the most valuable mineral in S. Africa is coal. The position was put succinctly in 1920 by Mr. U. P. Swinburne, Chief Inspector of Mines, when he wrote in the Official Year Book of the Union " S. Africa has made its name through the production of gold and diamonds, but it is mainly due to the existence of cheap coal that the large output of gold and diamonds has been made possible. On the Witwatersrand proper only a few mines would be working at the present time if a plentiful supply of cheap steam coal was not available." Opinions of experts on the life of the gold mines on the Rand differ; the report of the Union Economic Com- mission, presented early in 1914, estimated that 550,000,000 tons of payable ore remained in the mines then working. This figure was very much less than had been expected. Since that year new mines on the Far Eastern Rand have been developed. Mr. P. A. Wagner, in his presidential address in 1918 to the S.A. Association for the Advancement of Science, hazarded the conjecture that 1,200,000,000 worth of gold remained to be extracted and that 50 years ahead some of the mines might still be profitably worked. But gold production on the Rand is so costly that a slight rise in costs has on many mines a disastrous effect.
With regard to diamonds their abundance is unquestioned, and a policy of limiting supplies to keep up prices is adopted. Even so most of the diamond mines were shut down in 1920-1, a striking example of the economic depression prevailing, S.A. being the only considerable source of the supply of diamonds in the world. De- pression in prices led also in 1918 to the closing of the copper mines in Namaqualand, Cape province.
Since 1912 the gold industry has become increasingly dependent on the development of the Far East Rand. Thus in 1918 the divi- dends paid from the Far East Rand mines amounted to 3,344,000, compared with 1,929,000 from all other Rand mines. The value in sterling of the gold output from the Transvaal mines rose from 3 I .973i o in I9 IQ to 39,489,000 in 1916. This was considered the high water mark. 1 The value in 1917 was 38,306,000, in 1918 35,758,000, in 1919 35,389,000 and in 1920 34,652,000 (for the first half of 1921 the output was 16,671,000).
The statistics of the output of diamonds reflect the purchasing power of the public. The market is strictly controlled by the pro- ducers and the only diamond field of importance which was outside the Union that of ex-German S.W. Africa as a result of the World War came into line with the other S.A. mines. In 1914, shortly before the war began, a conference of representatives of the diamond industry was held in London with the object of regulating the output from each mine. Though no binding agreement was then made such an arrangement is virtually in force. The value of the
1 The total value of gold mined in British S.Africa in 1916 was 43,416,047: of this total 3,859,111 came from Rhodesian mines, 31,726 from the Tati goldfields, 1,336 from Natal and 132 from Cape province. The Natal mines in 1915 had yielded over 10,000.
diamonds extracted in 1910 was 8,746,000, in 1913, the last full year before the war, 11,389,000. In 1915 diamond mining almost ceased, the total output that year being valued at 399,000. The mines restarted in 1916, when the value of the output was 5,728,000. In 1918 the figure was 7,114,000 and in 1919 had risen to 11,734,- ooo, thus exceeding the record of 1913. The year 1920 began well and ended badly; the market was overstocked and purchasers few. The overstocking of the market was attributed by the De Beers Co. to the sale of diamonds by the Russians by the Soviet Government to obtain goods and by private individuals who had lost other means of subsistence. The Rhodesian output of diamonds is very small ; the De Beers Co. has the right to dispose of all diamonds found in the territory. In the Premier mine, Transvaal, the system of open working still prevailed in 1921. In Sept. 1917 a fine stone of 442 carats was found in the Dutoitspan mine, Kimberley.
A very marked development of coal mining took place between 1910 and 1921. The mines of the Cape province, which yield only poor quality coal, were nearly all abandoned as the richer deposits in Natal and the Transvaal were opened up. The output from the Cape exceeded 100,000 tons for the last time in 1909, in which year the Natal fields first yielded over 200,000 tons. The total output from the Union rose from 7,112,000 tons valued at 1,869,000 in 1910 to 10,382,000 tons valued at 3,275,000 in 1917 and was 10,266,- ooo tons in 1919. Besides supplying cheap fuel for the gold and diamond mines and other purposes, the coal is in great demand for bunkering ships and for export to India, E. Africa and S.A. ports. In 1919 Union coal bunkered was 1,427,000 tons; coal exported 1,092,000 tons (half of these exports going via Delagoa Bay).
The output of tin, mined almost entirely in the Waterberg and Olifants river districts, Transvaal (3,672 tons in 1913 valued at 436,000), had dropped in 1918 to 1,900 tons valued at 277,000.
Copper output increased with the opening of the railway in 1913 to the Messina mines on the Limpopo. These with the Namaqualand mines represented the copper output of the Union, which in 1916 with 22,800 tons reached a value of 1,137,000. In 1919 the output sunk to 4,900 tons valued at 208,000.
Trade and Shipping. The following table gives the total of imports and exports to and from the Union for 1911, the first com- plete year after the Union had been established, for 1915, the year of the greatest restrictions of trade owing to war conditions, and for 1919. The exports include diamonds and gold, the imports govern- ment stores and specie:
Year
Imports
Exports
Total Trade
1911
1915 1919
38,035,000 33,833,000 50,791,000
57,308,000 35,012,000 104,561,000
95,343.000 68,845,000 155,352,000
Trade in 1920 was conditioned by the world depression, which did not become marked till the second half of the year. Imports in the first six months showed a large increase, being 48,000,000 against 28,000,000 in the corresponding period of 1919, and for the whole year exceeded 90,000,000. Exports for the first six months of 1920 showed a comparatively small decline, being 51,000,000 as against 58,000,000 for Jan.-June 1919, but for the whole of 1920 the total was only 72,000,000.
The distribution of trade by countries was as follows in 1910 and 1919: Imports (1910) United Kingdom 59%, (1919) 46%; other British lands (1910) II %, (1919) 17%; United States (1910) 8% (1919) 24%; other countries (1910) 22%, (1919) 13%. Exports (excluding gold) United Kingdom (1910) 80%, (1919) 61 %; other British lands (1910) I % (1919) 8%; United States (1910) 17% (1919) 24%; other countries (1910) 17%, (1919) 15 %
Nearly all the external trade of the Union passed through Durban, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and East London. The only non- British port which had a share in the trade of the Union was Delagoa Bay. In 1913 Delagoa Bay had 12 % of the trade, in 1918 only 8% (see DELAGOA BAY). Of neighbouring countries the chief trade was with Rhodesia, Portuguese E. Africa and the Belgian Congo. The exports to British E. Africa (Kenya Colony) increased from 19,000 in 1913 to 396,000 in 1918; in the same period the imports from British E. Africa rose from 16,000 to 139,000. Of foreign coun- tries outside Africa and excluding the British Empire and the United States, France and the Argentine were the chief traders with the
the American 9-43 %.
The value of the preferential treatment accorded certain articles of merchandise imported into the Union from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand is shown by the following figures: In 1913 on imports valued at 22,498,000 the amount rebated was 628,000; in 1918 on merchandise worth 25,158,000 the rebate was 698,000.
The number and tonnage of vessels entered at Union ports (includ- ing the coastwise trade) was as follows in the years named. The figures represent the gross number of vessels using the Union ports, i.e. the same vessel, if it called and cleared at Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban, would be entered three times. The tonnage
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