CHAPTER VII.

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL RESOURCES.

WHEN

HEN the Emperor Napoleon I. wished to put a taunt upon England, he called the English a nation of shop-keepers. But Napoleon was scarcely original. Many years before a great English writer had noticed the same thing, that Englishmen were a trading race. The inference, however, which Adam Smith drew, was the very opposite of that which was, presumably, the inference of Napoleon; for Adam Smith adds that the desire of obtaining markets for their produce had led the English to found the Atlantic Colonies and commence the conquest of India. And when Max O'Rell wishes to give a descriptive title to his last book, which contains his impressions of the British Colonies, he calls it "John Bull and Co."

Well, let us accept this continental estimate of our national life and character. For the moment let us forget such names as Shakespeare and Milton, Bacon and Newton, Reynolds and Gainsborough. Without any obtrusive patriotism we can find some satisfaction even in this restricted view of our position in the commonwealth of nations. For the external trade of Englandand by England is meant the United Kingdom-is far greater than that of its brilliant and wealthy continental neighbour, far greater, too, than that of its own great daughter state

"The beacon-bright Republic, far-off sighted."

And that, too, in spite of the marvellous fertility of France and the giant proportions of the United States.

The external or sea-borne trade of England for the year 1889 amounts (in round numbers) to a total value of seven hundred and forty million pounds (see Appendix, Table II.)

I take this year, the year 1889, as the basis of my remarks, because it is a fairly normal year. In 1889 the trade of England had recovered from the depression which lasted from 1884-1888; and it was not yet disturbed by the political and financial troubles in South America, nor by the M'Kinley Tariff. Since 1889 the total value of our trade has fallen by some fifty or sixty million pounds; but, in the first place, this shrinkage is confined to the money value (for the bulk has increased), and, in the next, there is every reason to expect that the money value of 1889 will be reached again and even exceeded.

Of this total of seven hundred and forty million pounds, four hundred and twenty-five million pounds represent imports, and three hundred and fifteen million pounds, exports. Of our imports, seven-eighths are food and raw materials, and of our exports—omitting imports reexported-seven-eighths also are manufactured articles. We can see at once, therefore, what the industrial position of England is. England is a great workshop, the greatest workshop in the world: she imports food for her people, and raw materials which are made up into manufactured articles, and these manufactures she sells to the world.

The food purchase of England amounts to a total of one hundred and seventy-eight million pounds, being 417 per cent. of the total imports. Of this purchase the largest item, 53'6 million pounds, nearly a third of the whole, is paid for animal food; and almost the same proportion, 52.2 million pounds, is paid for corn, grain

and flour. Then we pay 23°2 million pounds for sugar, 38.3 million pounds for other vegetable products, 8'1 million pounds for spirituous liquors, and 26 million pounds for fish.

The purchase of raw materials amounts to a total of 1814 million pounds. The largest item is that of raw cotton, which is one-fourth of the whole, amounting to 45.8 million pounds. Next to that comes "sheep's wool," one-sixth of the whole, for which 29'7 million pounds is paid. Then follow metals and ores," 21'7 million pounds; wood, 20 ̊4 million pounds; textiles other than sheep's wool, 15.6 million pounds; and other raw materials which make up the balance, 48.2 million pounds.

Now, let us pause for a moment to consider where England makes her purchases. Speaking generally, we may say that the bulk of her food and raw materials comes from the new Anglo-Saxon countries, the United States and the British Colonies, from Russia and from British India. An analysis of three important imports, grain, cotton and wool, will make this plain. Of the total grain purchase (52.2 million pounds), more than one-third (18.2 million pounds) comes from the United States, and more than one-fourth (14 million pounds) from Russia. The rest comes in decreasing proportions from India, Canada, Australia and elsewhere. More than two-thirds (336 million pounds) of the cotton purchase (45.8 million pounds) comes from the United States, and a much less amount, five million pounds worth, from India. And actually five-sixths (25'4 million pounds) of the entire wool purchase (29.7 million pounds) comes from Australasia. To this last import South Africa contributes some three million pounds, one-tenth of the whole.*

*The figures in the text are based upon an Analysis of the Maritime Trade of the United Kingdom," by Sir Rawson W. Rawson, 1892. The results are exhibited in tabular form in the Statistical Appendix.

While, however, England purchases a part only of her food and raw materials from the British Colonies, nine-tenths, that is to say, practically the whole of the exports of the colonies, omitting the inter-colonial trade, comes to England. The English import, therefore, from any given colony furnishes us with a rough measure of its development. Consequently we can gain, at the outset, a general notion of the agricultural and pastoral development of South Africa, from merely learning that South Africa is a country which contributes nothing to the food supplies of England, and only one-tenth of the wool supply.

Canada, Australia, and New Zealand all contribute in proportion to their population as much (or more) to the food supply of England as the United States. New Zealand, a country with an area only one-tenth of South Africa and a European population-600,000-of about equal numbers, in addition to a large grain and meat export, sends nearly twice as much sheep's wool to England as South Africa.

Now we will look a little more closely at the South African exports.* In round numbers they amount to a total of sixteen million pounds (see Appendix, Table III.). Of this total two-thirds, twelve million pounds, are mineral exports-seven million pounds worth of gold from the Transvaal, four million pounds of diamonds from Kimberley, and the copper export. The remaining third is made up of four and a-half million pounds worth of pastoral exports -more than two million pounds of sheep's wool, half-amillion pounds of ostrich feathers, the same amount of hides, and less than half-a-million pounds worth of Angora hair. The balance includes a very small export of wine.

Taking the production of grain (see Appendix, Table V.), horned cattle, and sheep's wool (see Appendix, Table VI.), the three primary industries of a new country, as a test, we

* f.e. exports passing through Durban and ports of the Cape Colony.

are forced to the conclusion that the condition of South Africa is very unsatisfactory. And so an account of the agricultural and pastoral development of South Africa seems to resolve itself into an endeavour to answer the question: "To what is this deficiency due ?"

In this enquiry it is necessary to remember what are the main physical characteristics of South Africa; and at the same time we can take the opportunity of ascertaining the position of the chief grain and wool areas.

The first fact that commands our attention is the very high average elevation of the continent of Africa. This continent, the tropical continent par excellence, has an average elevation twice as great as that of Australia, more than one-third greater than that of Europe, and nearly one-third greater than that of America, North and South. It is only equalled in this respect by Asia, which contains the greatest mountain masses and the highest mountain summits in the world. In view of the importance of elevation as a factor in climate, this is a fact which must largely modify any estimate we form of the political and commercial value of the central and south-central areas.

It

The general climatic conditions of South Africa are determined by the position of the mountain ranges. will be remembered that they are situated comparatively near the coast, and to a great extent conform to the contour of the coast-line. Physically, South Africa falls into four divisions. The south coast valleys, the east coast semi-tropical slopes, the central plateaux, and the western deserts; the south and east winds which carry rain-clouds to the interior plateaux and deserts must be not only violent but continuous, since they have to bear the clouds over mountain barriers which reach a height sometimes of 10,000 and 12,000 feet. It is not surprising, therefore, that the interior districts, forming two-thirds of settled South Africa, should have no * Chap. I. p. 3.