1.—Article XIV. and the Monopolies.
The avowed taxes are far from representing the whole of the burden laid upon the Uitlanders by the Government of Pretoria.
The Convention of 1881 guaranteed freedom of commerce; nevertheless, from 1882 onwards "the triumvirate who ruled the country," says Mr. FitzPatrick (The Transvaal from Within), "granted numbers of concessions, ostensibly for the purpose of opening up industries. The real reasons are generally considered to have been personal." In 1884, Article XIV. renewed the guarantee of freedom of commerce; the Volksraad itself one day passed a resolution condemning monopolies in principle: and in December 1895 the President granted a monopoly for the importation of products, under the guise of a government agency with a commission to the agent!
One of the first monopolies established was for the manufacture of spirits. The quality of liquor it supplies to the natives is atrocious. To drunkenness is attributed a loss of 15 per cent. on the labour of 90,000 natives whose pay and food are equivalent to £40 per head, a loss therefore of £550,000 a year.
2.—The Dynamite Monopoly.
Two despatches, one from Mr. Chamberlain, dated January 13th, 1899, and the other from the Transvaal Government, dated March 9th, 1899, indicate how Mr. Krüger always meant to interpret Article XIV. of the Convention of 1884:
On October 13th, 1893, the Transvaal Government granted a monopoly of the dynamite trade to Mr. L.G. Vorstman for a period of 15 years. The price of No. 1 dynamite was fixed at £4 15s. per case, of which 5s. was to be paid to the Government.
The Transvaal Government maintains that this monopoly does not violate the freedom of labour, as it was established in the interest of the State, not in that of the concessionaires, and that the manufacture of dynamite is forbidden to the Boers as much as it is to foreigners.
Mr. Chamberlain in his despatch denies that the dynamite monopoly has been established in the interest of the State; and points out that even according to General Joubert, Vice-President of the Republic, this is really not a State monopoly but the monopoly of one, Lippert, because it is he who has derived the greatest profits from it.
The monopoly company has always failed to fulfil its engagements; the installation was to be completed in two-and-a-half years: in October, 1896, the company was only able to produce 80,000 cases, the consumption at that time amounting to 200,000. The commission of the Volksraad estimated that between 1897 and 1899 it would be necessary to import 430,000 cases in addition to the quantity produced by the company. It is more to the company's interest to import than to manufacture, since importation affords a profit of £2 per case, and to the State a duty of 5s. Were dynamite imported by the State itself, the latter would realise about £860,000 instead of, as at present, £107,500, making a difference of at least about £752,500.