BATTLE BETWEEN THE ENGLISH AND THE ZULUS, SOUTH AFRICA, 1879
Resources of Natal
In this latter connection there were, in 1892, over four million dollars invested in the sugar industry, including 36 factories, with an output of 15,000 tons and employing 6,000 coolies. But, although great possibilities exist in this and other industrial directions, serious development had only just commenced when the present war broke out, and the central resource of the Colony was still sheep and cattle raising, together with a fair amount of straight agricultural work such as the cultivation of maize, oats, barley, potatoes and vegetables of various kinds. Fruit, such as pineapples, oranges, lemons, bananas, peaches, etc., were, of course, grown to any extent desired. That the general progress of production was fair is seen from the fact that the Natalian exports rose from $6,200,000 in 1893 to $8,100,000 in 1897. Other conditions were good. The imports, chiefly from Great Britain, advanced during the same period from $11,000,000 to $29,900,000, and the revenue from five millions to eleven millions. Durban became the port for a large transit trade to the interior States. The population as a whole grew from 361,000 in 1867 to 543,900 in 1891, and 829,000 in 1898—four hundred thousand of this increase being amongst the natives. Educational progress was excellent. In 1892 the regular attendance at Government and inspected schools was 6,000, while 2,200 attended private schools, and only some 200 children were reported as receiving no education. There were 74 schools for natives, with a total attendance of 4,050, and 24 schools for Indian children, with an attendance of 1,402. In 1897 there were 7,685 in regular attendance at Government and inspected schools, and 1,600 at the private schools. There were 159 native schools with an attendance of 8,542, and 30 Indian schools with 1,961 pupils.
England's Wise and Generous Policy
Upon the whole, the historic life of Natal since the days of Dutch and native turmoil has not, with the exception of the eventful period of 1876-81, been a stormy one. The Dutch are too much in the minority to cause much trouble, and a fair measure of good feeling seems to have prevailed locally. The whole white population are fairly well agreed upon franchise questions as the free British principle works out in the practical exclusion of the ignorant and tribal savage. They are at one upon tariff matters, and the present system is for revenue only and is very low—the ordinary ad valorum rate being five per cent. Politics have not been as bitter as in Cape Colony, owing to a practical, though not always expressed, recognition of the fact that good reasons existed for not giving complete control over an immense black population, involving in its results at times the whole Imperial policy and system in South Africa, into the hands of thirty, forty, or fifty thousand white men, women and children, all told. The wise handling of the native problem, the conciliation of the Kaffir and the careful local laws, did, however, make this finally possible, and the Government of the Colony since 1893 has been all that could be reasonably desired. There is some rivalry with Cape Colony, owing to the latter's annexation of Griqualand East and Pondoland which Natal had hoped to acquire, and also, in some measure, to the railway competition of the richer and stronger Colony. But Natal has been allowed to absorb Zululand and Tongaland on its eastern border, and to thus reach up to Portuguese territory. The people have also led an easy and tranquil life, and are as a rule comfortably off. Now, of course, this is all changed, and the little Colony is the scene of an Empire-making strife, while its fruitful soil, or beautiful valleys and picturesque hills, resound with the march of armed men and echo with the roar of artillery. A tardy measure of healthful progress has thus been suddenly and summarily arrested; but in the end it is probable that good will come of evil and the natural riches of a splendid region be more generally recognized and developed.
CHAPTER XII.
A Review of the South African Question.
Religious Intolerance of the Boers