Keetmanshoop was the capital of the southern territory, and was important on account of its position as a military headquarters. The town is small, but well laid out, and has a church, a Government school, a number of hotels, stores, and some neat residences.
Other centres of population, of more or less importance, are Karibib, some 125 miles from Swakopmund, a busy railway centre, which has grown very rapidly since 1901; Omaruru, about 150 miles from Swakopmund, with rich grazing lands; Okahandja, north of Windhoek, noted for its good water supply; Gobabis, the chief town on the eastern border; Grootfontein, in North Damaraland, founded by Boer settlers in the ’eighties of the last century; Tsumeb, the centre of the valuable copper mining industry; Outjo, a military station in the Kaokoveld; Bethanien and Warmbad, old mission stations in Great Namaqualand; and Gibeon, the centre of some good farm lands.
Recent years have seen marked progress throughout the country, mainly owing to the extension of the railways. It is true that the railways have been built with a view to their strategic importance, and altogether in advance of the population, but they have been a most important factor in increasing the economical value of the territory. A line from Swakopmund, managed by the Otavi Mining and Railway Company, connects the port with the copper mining districts at Otavi and Tsumeb, and is some 419 miles in length. It is of approximately two-foot gauge. A branch extends from Otavi to Grootfontein. A second railway, managed by the State, extends from Swakopmund almost parallel with the narrow-gauge line to Karibib, then curves south to Windhoek, from which place it proceeds due south to Keetmanshoop and Kalkfontein.
From Luderitzbucht a line of the standard South African gauge, 3 feet 6 inches, worked by the Lenz Company, has been laid to Keetmanshoop via Seeheim, so all the important districts have been linked up. A branch line, 66 miles in length, runs parallel with the coast, from Kolmanskuppe to Bogenfels, and intersects diamondiferous country practically all the way. The locomotives on this line are driven by electricity generated on the engines. In all there are some 1,400 miles of railways, 780 of which are narrow gauge, while the rest are of Cape gauge.
Kalkfontein is 172½ miles from Upington, in the Cape Province, and since the war broke out the two places have been linked up by rail as a result of magnificent record construction work by the engineers and men of the Union Railways. From De Aar to Windhoek it is now 876 miles by rail, and 1191 from Luderitzbucht to Johannesburg.
Roads have been improved between some of the larger centres of population, but in many places they are nothing more than mere tracks across the country. In regard to the telegraph and telephone service, the colony is well in advance of many parts of the Union of South Africa, since many of the farm settlements are linked up with the villages and towns, and many of the military stations and police posts are similarly joined. At Windhoek, a high-power wireless station, consisting of five towers, 360 feet high, was erected in 1914, to form a link in the chain of stations between Germany and her overseas possessions, stretching from Nauen to East Africa. Wireless stations were also erected at Swakopmund and Luderitzbucht. There are seventy post offices in the country, and fifty of these are also telegraph offices. The schools for European children have increased of late, but the medium has been compulsory German, even for the children of the Dutch settlers. Numerous wells have been sunk, dams made, irrigation work undertaken; and it is estimated that in addition to the natural springs, there are now 1,613 wells, 130 dams, and 59 water-boring holes. The Windhoek district is favoured with no less than 12 springs, 231 wells, 35 dams, and 20 water-boring holes.
Trade has shown some advance, and the traffic of the two ports has steadily increased. In 1913 the imports were valued at £2,171,200, and they consisted mainly of foodstuffs, liquors, coal, building materials, textiles, galvanised iron, and rails. No less than 81 per cent. of the imports came from Germany, while less than 1 per cent. came from England, and about 12 per cent. from British South Africa. Far more coal came from Germany than from the coalfields of South Africa. The exports for 1913 were valued at £3,515,100, but the diamond production was responsible for no less than £2,945,975. Other exports were copper, £396,436; tin, £31,568; wool, £5,500; cattle, small stock, meat, hides, skins, and ostrich feathers. Germany received 83 per cent. of the articles.
The finances of the colony show improvement. The revenue, accruing mostly from railways, harbours, and taxes on minerals, showed a surplus for 1913; and in budgeting for the year 1915, revenue and expenditure were estimated to balance at £2,081,157. Public works of some importance were contemplated for 1914-15.
Minerals
One of the immediate results of the German occupation was an influx into the country of mining prospectors who were eager to secure concessions. Mineral rights over large areas were bought from native chiefs, and prospecting was actively carried on. The concessions were in many instances transferred to third and sometimes fourth parties, until at length the mining rights of the whole country were held by the following: The Deutsche Kolonial Gesellschaft, the Kaoko Land und Minen Gesellschaft, the South-West Africa Company, the Otavi Minen und Eisenbahn Gesellschaft, the Hanseatische Land und Minen Gesellschaft, the Gibeon Schuerf und Handels Gesellschaft, the South African Territories Company, and the Government. For some years each of these parties kept to its own laws, which regulated or prohibited prospecting operations. The Government recognised the need for greater uniformity, and in 1913 the various companies, with the exception of the South-West Africa Company, entered into agreements with the Government. The royalties payable to the different companies were fixed by these agreements.