South Africa; vol I.

by Anthony Trollope

The Colony is governed by a Lieutenant-Governor,—who however is not in truth Lieutenant to any one but simply bears that sobriquet, and an Executive Council consisting I think of an uncertain number. There is a Colonial Secretary, a Secretary for Native Affairs, a Treasurer, and an Attorney-General. The Commandant of the Forces is I think also called to the Council, and the Superintendent of Public Works. The Governor is impowered also to invite two members of the Legislative Council. They meet as often as is found necessary and in fact govern the Colony. Laws are of course passed by the Legislative Council of twenty-eight members, of which, as I have stated before, fifteen are elected and thirteen nominated. New laws are I think always initiated by the Government, and the action of the Council, if hostile to the Government, is confined to repudiating propositions made by the Government. But the essential difference between such a government as that of Natal, and parliamentary government such as prevails in Canada, the Australias, New Zealand and in the Cape Colony, consists in this—that the Prime Minister in these self-governing Colonies is the responsible head of affairs and goes in and out in accordance with a parliamentary majority, as do our Ministers at home; whereas in Natal the Ministers remain in,—or go out if they do go out,—at the dictation of the Crown. Though the fifteen elective members in Natal were to remain hostile to the Government on every point year after year, there would be no constitutional necessity to change a single Minister of the Colony. The Crown,—or Governor,—would still govern in accordance with its or his prevailing ideas. There might be a deadlock about money. There might be much that would be disagreeable. But the Governor would be responsible for the government, and no one would necessarily come in or go out. Such a state of things, however, is very improbable in a Colony in which the Crown nominates so great a minority as thirteen members out of a Chamber of twenty-eight. It is not probable that the fifteen elected members will combine themselves together to create a difficulty.

In 1876 the Revenue of the Colony was £265,551. In 1846 it was only £3,095. In 1876 the expenditure was £261,933. What was the expenditure in 1846 I do not know, but certainly more than the Revenue,—as has often been the case since. The Colony owes an old funded debt of £331,700, and it has now borrowed or is in the act of borrowing £1,200,000 for its railways. The borrowed money will no doubt all be expended on public works. When a country has but one harbour, and that harbour has such a sandbank as the bar at Durban, it has to spend a considerable sum of money before it can open the way for its commerce. Upon the whole it may be said that the financial affairs of the Colony are now in a good condition.

When I had been a day or two in the place the Governor was kind enough to ask me to his house and extended his hospitality by inviting me to join him in an excursion which he was about to make through that portion of his province which lies to the immediate North of Pieter Maritzburg, and thence, eastward, down the coast through the sugar districts to Durban. It was matter of regret to me that my arrangements were too far fixed to enable me to do all that he suggested; but I had a few days at my disposal and I was very glad to take the opportunity of seeing, under such auspices, as much as those few days would allow. An active Colonial Governor will be so often on the move as to see the whole of the territory confided to his care and to place himself in this way within the reach of almost every Colonist who may wish to pay his respects or may have ought of which to complain. This is so general that Governors are very often away from home, making semi-regal tours through their dominions, not always very much to their own comfort, but greatly to the satisfaction of the male Colonist who always likes to see the Governor,—very much indeed to the satisfaction of the lady Colonist who likes the Governor to call upon her.

Upon such occasions everything needed upon the road has to be carried, as, except in towns, no accommodation can be found for the Governor and his suite. In Natal for instance I imagine that Durban alone would be able to put the Governor up with all his followers. He lives as he goes under canvas, and about a dozen tents are necessary. Such at least was the case on this trip. Cooks, tentpitchers, butlers, guards, aides-de-camp, and private secretary are all necessary. The progress was commenced by the despatch of many waggons with innumerable oxen. Then there followed a mule waggon in which those men were supposed to sit who did not care to remain long on horseback. While I remained the mule waggon was I think presided over by the butler and tenanted by his satellites, the higher persons preferring the more animated life of the saddle. I had been provided with a remarkably strong little nag, named Toby Tub, who seemed to think nothing of sixteen stone for six or seven hours daily and who would canter along for ever if not pressed beyond eight miles an hour. The mode of our progress was thus;—as the slow oxen made their journeys of twelve or fourteen miles a day the Governor deviated hither and thither to the right and the left, to this village or to that church, or to pay a visit to some considerable farmer; and thus we would arrive at the end of our day’s journey by the time the tents were pitched,—or generally before. There was one young officer who used to shoot ahead about three in the afternoon, and it seemed that everything in the way of comfort depended on him. My own debt of gratitude to him was very great, as he let me have his own peculiar indiarubber tub every morning before he used it himself. Tubbing on such occasions is one of the difficulties, as the tents cannot be pitched quite close to the spruits, or streams, and the tubs have to be carried to the water instead of the water to the tubs. Bathing would be convenient, were it not that the bather is apt to get out of a South African spruit much more dirty than he went into it. I bathed in various rivers during my journey, but I did not generally find it satisfactory.

We rode up to many farms at which we were of course received with the welcome due to the Governor, and where in the course of the interview most of the material facts as to the farmer’s enterprise,—whether on the whole he had been successful or the reverse, and to what cause his success or failure had been owing,—would come out in conversation. An English farmer at home would at once resent the questionings which to a Colonial farmer are a matter of course. The latter is conscious that he has been trying an experiment and that any new comer will be anxious to know the result. He has no rent to pay and does not feel that his condition ought to remain a secret between him and his landlord alone. One man whom we saw had come from the East Riding of Yorkshire more than twenty years ago, and was now the owner of 1,200 acres,—which however in Natal is not a large farm. But he was well located as to land, and could have cultivated nearly the whole had labour been abundant enough, and cheap enough. He was living comfortably with a pleasant wife and well-to-do children, and regaled us with tea and custard. His house was comfortable, and everything no doubt was plentiful with him. But he complained of the state of things and would not admit himself to be well off. O fortunati nimium sua si bona norint Agricolæ. He had no rent to pay. That was true. But there were taxes,—abominable taxes. This was said with a side look at the Governor. And as for labour,—there was no making a Zulu labour. Now you could get a job done, and now you couldn’t. How was a man to grow wheat in such a state of things, and that, too, with the rust so prevalent? Yes;—he had English neighbours and a school for the children only a mile and a half off. And the land was not to say bad. But what with the taxes and what with the Zulus, there were troubles more than enough. The Governor asked, as I thought at the moment indiscreetly, but the result more than justified the question,—whether he had any special complaint to make. He had paid the dog tax on his dogs,—5s. a dog, I think it was;—whereas some of his neighbours had escaped the imposition! There was nothing more. And in the midst of all this the man’s prosperity and comfort were leaking out at every corner. The handsome grown-up daughter was telling me of the dancing parties around to which she went, and there were the pies and custards all prepared for the family use and brought out at a moment’s notice. There were the dining room and drawing room, well furnished and scrupulously clean,—and lived in, which is almost more to the purpose. There could be no doubt that our Yorkshire friend had done well with himself in spite of the Zulus and the dog tax.

An Englishman, especially an English farmer, will always complain, where a Dutchman or a German will express nothing but content. And yet the Englishman will probably have done much more to secure his comfort than any of his neighbours of another nationality. An English farmer in Natal almost always has a deal flooring to his living rooms; while a Dutchman will put up with the earth beneath his feet. The one is as sure to be the case as the other. But the Dutchman rarely grumbles,—or if he grumbles it is not at his farm. He only wants to be left alone, to live as he likes on his earthen floor as his fathers lived before him, and not to be interfered with or have advice given to him by any one.

In the course of our travels we came to a German village,—altogether German, and were taken by the Lutheran parson to see the Lutheran church and Lutheran school. They were both large and betokened a numerous congregation. That such a church should have been built and a clergyman supported was evidence of the possession of considerable district funds. I am not sure but that I myself was more impressed by the excellence of the Lutheran oranges, grown on the spot. It was very hot and the pastor gave us oranges just picked from his own garden to refresh us on our journey. I never ate better oranges. But an orange to be worth eating should always be just picked from the tree.

Afterwards as we went on we came to Hollanders, Germans, Dutchmen, and Englishmen, all of whom were doing well, though most of them complained that they could not grow corn as they would wish to do because the natives would not work. The Hollander and the Dutchman in South Africa are quite distinct persons. The Hollander is a newly arrived emigrant from Holland, and has none of the Boer peculiarities, of which I shall have to speak when I come to the Transvaal and the Free State. The Dutchman is the descendant of the old Dutch Colonist, and when living on his farm is called a Boer,—the word having the same signification as husbandman with us. It flavours altogether of the country and country pursuits, but would never be applied to any one who worked for wages. They are rare in the part of the country we were then visiting, having taken themselves off, as I have before explained, to avoid English rule. There is however a settlement of them still left in the northern part of the Colony, about the Klip River and in Weenen.

One Hollander whom we visited was very proud indeed of what he had done in the way of agriculture and gave us, not only his own home-grown oranges, but also his own home-grown cigars. I had abandoned smoking, perhaps in prophetical anticipation of some such treat as this. Others of the party took the cigars,—which, however, were not as good as the oranges. This man had planted many trees, and had done marvels with the land round his house. But the house itself was deficient,—especially in the article of flooring.

Then we came to a German farmer who had planted a large grove about his place, having put down some thousands of young trees. Nothing can be done more serviceable to the country at large than the planting of trees. Though there is coal in the Colony it is not yet accessible,—nor can be for many years because of the difficulty of transport. The land is not a forest-land,—like Australia. It is only on the courses of the streams that trees grow naturally and even then the growth is hardly more than that of shrubs. Firewood is consequently very dear, and all the timber used in building is imported. But young trees when planted almost always thrive. It has seemed to me that the Governments of South Africa should take the matter in hand,—as do the Governments of the Swiss Cantons and of the German Duchies, which are careful that timber shall be reproduced as it is cut down. In Natal it should be produced; and Nature, though she has not given the country trees, has manifestly given it the power of producing them. The German gentleman was full of the merits of the country, freely admitting his own success, and mitigating in some degree the general expressions against the offending Native. He could get Zulus to work—for a consideration. But he was of opinion that pastoral pursuits paid better than agriculture.