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ROUND THE WORLD JUBILEE TOUR UNDER THE BRITISH FLAG. DANGER TO EUROPEANS IN SOUTH AFRICA. VISIT TO THE DIAMOND TOWN. [BY FKEDEMCK IXH.VTAN] KIMBERLEY, May 3, 1897. My first impressions of the diamond town were d isappoiatiug. The electric Lights twinkling ior a long distance over the veidt led me to expect something difierens from what 1 saw during my short drive on a Cape cart from the railway station to the Queen's Hotel. The brilliant arc lamps only revealed to me irregular rows of shops and dwelling-houses, buiit of wood and corrugated iron, and having, as a rule, no upper storeys, Every third build- ing appeared to be a drinking-bar, in which uis- repuõable "Kainrs" and rough-looking whites cpLLtd be seen drinking and smoking1. "This is ft fining camp, not a town," was the reflection "With which I retired to much-needed rest. I But by the morning iight I waa able to take pleasure in the quaintness of the scene. In construction Kimberley ia. indeed, little more than a mining camp, although, as I was aoon to discover, it has pretty well all the advantages of a big European city, including a daily news- paper and a service of tramcars. Manv build- ings in the principal streets are mere sheds— evidently survivals of the time-about twenty- •ive years ago-when the discoveries of diamonds near the Orange River caused a. rush to this district of Griqualand West. But these sheds have pretty little gardens, with brightly-painted verandahs or storps. It is said that for a long time the local capitalists would on no account put money in bricks and mortar; possibly they had not sufficient faith in the depth of the diamond reefs and, consequently, of the future of Kimber- ley. Hence, a town which, for its size, has pro- duced more wealth than any other in tho world is as cheaply built as an Irish village. But the supply of diamonds is now assured for many years to come, and more substantial edifices are oeginning to be built—such as the PubIc library (which has about the second finest col- lection of books in South Africa), the Kimber- <ey Club (which in its appointments would not '.isgrace Pall Mall), the new theatre now being truilt, and the premises of several important business firms. It will probably not be long before Kimberley undergoes complete trans- formation. As it is to-day, one has no diffi- culty in realising what the early days of the diamond industry must have been, when diggers were working on their own account and there were no big companies or elaborate machinery. On the Orange River. 40 or 50 miles from here, 4hose conditions still prevail. I am told, and wnong the rough working miners there are to je found characters worthy of Bret Harte's pen. The diggers' camp has developed into the Vina, and the entrances to some of the mines ire consequently built quite near my hotel; me is in the market place, and the other adjoins :he railway station. The surface worh-the Pulsator crushing plant, washing machines, &c.. which are the most interesting to the visitor, and by meana of which the production of diamonds has been brought to scientific per- fection—are two or three miles away, the tall •.Limneys giving to the surrounding country a niggestion of Lancashire or Yorkshire. The greater number of tha Englishmen employed in these works live, with their wives and fami- nes, in a suburb called Kenilworth, where they lave a large and comfortable club for all kinds >f sociaJ pleasure. A successful attempt has ilso been m ide to plant trees on a large scale. In the public park hero a similar effort has Seen made with rather less, success, but away trom these two spots the heat and dust during a great part of the year are the two greatest drawbacks to the enjoyment of life at Kimber- Jpy. Around the park are the villa residences of the higher officials in the De Beers Company and the merchants and stockbrokers of the town ■—the district being known to the rest of Kim- berley as Belgravia. The coloured people, who form about half the population, which is now about 30,000, mostly live in their "locations"—or collections of rough huts—just outside the town. But, as is well known, the natives who have taktn service with the De Beers Company are obliged to reside in what are called "compounds," where they can be rigorously searched every lay against theft of the precious stones; and a visit to one of these "compounds" gives you an interesting insight into native life. These sub- jects of the Queen, who, for the time being, place themselves under the government of the De Beers Company and its officials, come from tU parts of British South Africa. But, although belonging to different tribes, it is found quite impracticable to imprison them within the same walls. I went on Sunday Afternoon to the West End Compound, which is the home of about a third of the five or six thousand natives employed by the De Beers Company—their home, that is to say, for the sixteen hours out of the twenty-four when they we not digging or hauling in the mines. The scene is a squalid yet picturesque one, with hundreds of half-clothed fellows grouped about, washing their clothes, playing at pitch-and- toss, making dough-cakes, or quietly chatting. One or two were playing on the tom-tom, and fct times this primitive music will induce dancing. At the sides of this big open-air playground are well-built huts and a large hospital, with dispensary and operating-room, where the sick end injured are treated by doctors and nurses employed by the company. The men-Barnt-os and Zulus especially—are tall and well built; but whilst working in the mines they are often attacked by pneumonia- They rarely stop more than the three months for which they contract, their wages during that time being from 3s. 6d. to 6s. 6d. per day. according to their strength and the nature of the work on which they are employed. Out of these wages they have usually enough at the end of this period to enable them to return to their tribes, and with so many head of cattle buy for them- selves another wife. In Kimberley you hear much talk of the native question, which occupies so much the thoughts of intelligent colonists. Not very far from here—about one hundred and fifty miles or so—two little wars are actually pro- ceeding at the present moment. In the opera- tions against Galiehwe about a thousand whites —largely Kimberley volnnteeers—have been engaged for several months. Galishwe is one of several natives who murdered an English storekeeper after looting the store. The rest were captured, but Galishwe fled to his tribe in the mountains, where he and his pro- tectors occupv positions in which it is vcrv d'fficult for white men to get at them. This little war, coming after the recent severe struggle with the Matabele, has increased the apprehension with which many people here are looking forward to what they regard as the almost inevitable native rebellion, from the Zambesi almost to the Cape. This is the ooming danger, not to British supremacy, but to the prosperity of Europeans generally in South Africa. Every year the natives are improving in education, and. con- sequently in the ability to organise effectively The natives who are educated in mission schools are already most insolent, so it is said, in their intercourse with white men. Tt should be re-nembered that I am not eiying my own opinions. I am merely chronicling what I was told on the spot. With a little more know- ledge, these natives may be expected to agitate among their fellows, and explain how easily the white men could be driven into the sea if only they had the same armament and organisa- tion. I express scepticism on both points. In teply. I am reminded how largely in recent wars the natives have been found to possess firearms of very recent pattern. Even Gali- Jhwe's men have a considerable number of the !e-Metford rifle. There are always traitorous whites ready to sell their countrymen for a mesa of pottage. But our terribly destructive artillery ? Well. it has not proved so destructive in recent native wars, and natives may possess themselves of modern guns, as they have of modern rifles. My doubt as to the ability of the natives to organise themselves for the purpose of a general rebellion is answered by reference to the Indian Mutiny— an analogy that surely loses its force when it is remembered that the mutineers in India were already organised bv military discipline, orga- jgjsed by the Government against whioh they ftg-ned. For mv own part. although I have heard so much from thoughtful Colonists on this coming terror. I have heard nothing to shake my own feeling that the native question will solve itself in Africa as it is solving itself in America—along the lines of education, social progress, 4Ød politicaJ enfranchisement. Of course, even the gentlemen whose talk I have been paraphrasing do not suppose that the whites —vastly as they are outnumbered, and are {iV^lv to be outnumbered, by the abonglDftI- sould be reallv driven out of the country. But they fear that the cost in blood and treasure of keening South Africa for the whites may prove too Treat. Every extensive outbreak— down to the last in 1877—has proved more ex- pensive to put down; the time may come when the game will not be considered worth the candle. And in the meantime a thousand white bodies that have never been identified lie on the tflams of Matabeleland, and until the troops in Rhodesia are largely reinforced there is danger any day of a recurrence of the massacres. Lastly—and in this I was in thorough accord with my companion, a gentleman who took a distinguished part in the last Matabele War— it behoves Europeans of all nationalities to live in unity, lest the naitives should take advantage of their conflicts. The De Beers Company now dominates everything in Kimberley; it has the largest linger in every pie. This is not altogether a Wealthy state of things for the community, but, then, it is said that the De Beers Company has I, been the salvation of Kimberley. But for the I amalgamation of the various competing com. panics the diamond industry would have been ruined bY over-production and low plicae. There is another view, which seems more in acoordanoe with economic principles. Accor- ding to this, the policy of amalgamation, whilst enriching the shareholders and directors of the De Beers Company, has paralysed the progres- sive energies of the young town. That its development has been checked, that its ratable value has fallen, is not denied. But the ad- herents of the De Beers Company attribute these things to the rise of Johannesburg. When the phenomenal wealth of the Rand astonished the world many Kimberley men, merchants, stockbrokers, and speculators, left the town for the new golden city. There can be no doubt that the hope of the Cape Colonists when they re-christened '"New Rush" bv the name of the then Colonial Secretary—that Kimberley would become the mining capital of South Africa— was quite destroyed bv the rise of Johannes- burg. It is probably for this reason that you find the anti-Boer feeling in Kimberley even stronger and more assertive than in Cape Town. The question here is, of course, not complicated bv the presence of a Dutch population: it M a thoroughly English community, full of righteous indignation over the wrongs of their fellow- countrymen in the Transvaal BEAUFORT WEST, May 5. Beaufort West, where I have broken my journey back to Cape Town, is a typical centre of rural life, about half-way between Kimber- ley and the capital- W.ith a population of about 3,000, it resembles in many respects Wor- cester, Wellington, Stellenbosch, the Paarl, and numerous other small towns in the Colony. Situated in the midst of the Karroo, the town itself offers a pleasing contrast to the surround- ing country. It consists of several shady avenues, with gardens and orchards on either side—affording conclusive proof of the latent wealth of the Karroo, only requiring irrigation to draw it forth. The Dutch form about two-thirds of the population, some of the principal inhabitants being large sheep fanners. These men own several farms in different parts of the Karroo, to which they pay periodical visits from Beau- fort. The English and Scotch are mostly shopkeepers or trading agents—to a great extent dependent on the farmers for their custom. This is the position of affairs through- out a large part of the Colony, and does much to explain the predominance of the Dutch in its politics. On the other hand, I am told that in recent years a counter-movement has taken place, a good number of Dutch landowners and farmers meeting misfortune by borrowing money from English banks, insurance com- panies, &c., in. the towns. Nearly all the shops in the towns have their signs written in Dutch and English, and two cut of three people of whom I ask my way are unable to understand me. When I buy the local newspaper-a four-page weekly, for which 3d. is charged—I find that it is printed in both English and Dutch, and. although in English hands, it is evidently written with the fear of offending the susceptibilities of the latter. But the language is surely following the flag. In the three or four schools of the town, which are managed by voluntary committees, with the funds provided bv Government grants and fees, English must be learnt, while Dutch is optional. I saw the boys trooping out of one of these schools, and they were all shouting to each other in good honest Saxon. The Dutch and the English have separate cemeteries at the end of the town. But in the Dutch ground I found many graves, with headstones of comparatively recent dates, with inscriptions in English to the memory of people with English names. Whilst faithful. to their national church, they had bscome, as the result of inter-marriage, Angli- cised in their tongue. Seated on the storp of my inn, I have had an interesting talk with one of the oldest inhabi- tants of Beaufort West. He is a hale and hearty Scotchman of eighty, who has spent over sixty years in Cape Colony. When he first came to Beaufort West its population was only about five hundred, and not long before that it consisted of a single farm. He remembers, very clearly Sir George Grey's visit, when the Governor was on a tour of the Colonv that he administered so wisely and w ll. The old man was one of a group of townsmen ] who received his Excellency only a few varls from where we are sitting. He has clear recol- lections of various native wars, to which no w^s more than once "commandeered," although he never actually saw pervico in the field. "Th^ro can be no part of the Empire," he concludes, "where there has been greater progress during the Queen's reign—progress from barbarism to < civilisation, from wa.r to peace, and from ] poverty to wealth." But the veteran colonist 1 foresees even greater progress for South Africa j in the near future if peace continues—progress in trade and manufacture, due to the develop- « ment of the coalfields. TTe makes no doubt. 1 after the discoveries already made, that good j coal exists in South Africa in large quantities. He believes that the Karroo district is rich in black diamonds, and, having made a fortune < in farming, is himself engaged in a prospective j enterprise in this neighbourhood. ] At the same time. the old man has some fore- < bodings about the future relations of Dutch and English. "Although, in some ways," he says, 1 "they may seem to become more English, I am afraid thero is at their hearts a crowing feeling of disaffection. Strangers never hear anything of the kind, but I have heard these Dutch farmers say that they were first in the country, and that it ought to belong to them < again. They forgot that if South Africa, were independent—if it were not for the British Naw—it would be at the mercy of some, other European Power, like Germany or Franco. t< They forget, too, how Holland itself owes the maintenance of her independence to the strength ] of England." To all outward seemir.g, these rural Dutchmen — Africander Bunds- ] men, though many of them may be j —are still quite loyal to the Bri- tish flag. The Beaufort We3t Council have six Dutch members and three English, and as I write they are meeting in the old Town 1 House, which is opposite to my windows, < engaged in considering, with other leadng ] townsmen, the details of the local celebration ( of the Diamond Jubilee. They have adopted I hex Majesty's own suggestion, and are endea- vouring to raise sufficient funds for a cottage ( hcspitaL In the Town House, by the way, there is aoi excellent library—chiefly of English books—and free reading-room, with all the < best London newspapers and magazines. Similar institutions are now to be found, I am told, in most towns and large villas, and 1 they must be doing much to spread English 1 thought and sentiment among the younger. generation. j At j;ine o'clock the big bell in the tower of tho Town House booms forth in a long-con- tinued clang. It is the curfew of B laufort -warning the Kaffirs that they must now 1 retire to their locations on pain of fine or imprisonment. This curfew law against the natives ie optional on the part of the local 1 authorities—some put it in force, others do not. The natives in Beaufort number several hundreds; thay are almost entirely i Kaffirs, and are chiefly engaged in 1 sheep-shearing. At thia occupation they :'an 1 earn during the busy season 5s. a. day, but the srreater part of the money, unfortunately, is snent in drink. J he Dutch Reformed, the Episcopal, and the Wesleyan Churches in the town are now awakening to their responsibility in the matter, and by going to the natives in their wretched dwellings, instead of asking the natives to coins to thtm, are endeavouring to influence them for the better. But the native mind still finds it difficult to understand the evix of intemperance, and in such places as I Beaufort West Mr. Rose-Innes's Prohibition (for Natives) Bill would teem to be anxiously awaited. In the hotel the talk (among English com- mercial travellers and others) is chiefly of Sir Alfred Miller's arrival at Cape Town, which was expected for to-day. Sir Alfred's coming 1 has Non awaited with the keenest interest, and the highest expectations have been formed of his ability to unravel the tangled skein. from all I hear, the reception will be on an unprece- dented sca'.o for Crpe Town, indicating the hopes whioli th3 coming of the new Governor has inspire m the minds of the British com- munity throughout the Colony.

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