| Importation £ | Exportation £ | |
| January | 3:211 7 0 | 705 12 0 |
| February | 2:482 3 0 | 2:826 1 0 |
| March | 6:982 7 0 | 1:727 15 0 |
| April | 7:521 8 0 | 2:147 5 0 |
| May | 10:924 0 0 | 1:651 18 0 |
| June | 1:434 2 0 | 3:759 9 0 |
| July | 9:184 7 0 | 1:846 1 0 |
| August | 10:051 1 0 | 133 11 0 |
| September | 5:472 5 0 | 4:284 11 0 |
«These figures differ from those of preceding years in this respect—that they cover the period of temporary inflation caused by «Moodie's Rush» and the Lydenburg Gold Fields generally. Yet what are the facts? For the nine months of this year all the imports through Delagoa Bay only reached a value of £56:263, while the exports only reached a total £19:082 being a monthly average of £6:251 in the one case and of £2:120 in the other. Thus, carrying on the average, the entire import trade of the rival port represents, so far, a yearly value £75:014 only. There is not much in these figures to cause dismay. No abnormal diversion of trade has yet taken place, and in the absence of a line of railway we are not likely under existing circumstances to see much improvement in these figures. Were any power other than Portugal to establish itself at Delagoa Bay the case might be different; but so long as the present regime abides at the northern port we can afford to go on our way steadily, seeking to conserve and to retain whatever trade we at present command.»
E outro mais grave publicado em o numero de 20 de janeiro ultimo.
The powers in Africa, January, 16
«Should recent and pending negotiations lead to a definitive understanding between England and Germany as to the future relations of the two powers in Central and Southern Africa, the future of this continent will all at once have passed into a phase which will be, when compared with the past, as light is from darkness. The determination of that future, under the altered circumstances of the moment, may be said to depend upon three postulates. The one is that England is prepared and resolved to hold her own throughout all the regions that have been directly, or nominally or relatively, under her influence or sway. The second is that England beyond certain lines has neither the desire nor the intention to extend the limits of her dominion in Africa. The last is that Germany means, without any reservation or vacillation, to establish herself in Africa as a colonising power, wherever the way may be open to her. As regards the first two of these premisses, it may, we think, be taken for granted that England means to go thus{27} far, but no further. The power that has impelled the Imperial Ministry to make the present demonstration of its authority in South Africa is the same power that has prevented mr. Gladstone from going as far hitherto. It is the power of public opinion in the mother country, and it is the power of that democracy which practically shapes that opinion. The world has suddenly discovered that the English democracy is not ready—as yet, whatever may be its disposition in the future—to part with an inch of its territory or a stone of its fortresses. This has been somewhat of a revelation to English colonists, no less than to foreign nationalities; but it is a fact. That fact is no doubt fully recognised by the German Government, and it is a fact which will be respected. Had it been made manifest a little earlier much misunderstanding, and possibly certain vain aspirations and illusions might have been saved. It is simply absurd to suppose that Germany has not cherished designs more or less ambitious, based upon the apparent desire of England to get rid of its responsibilities in South Africa. To deny, or even to doubt the existence of these designs—contingent always upon a policy of abdication and retirement on England's part—is simply to ignore the abounding evidence of experience and of fact. Prince Bismarck's last speech to the Reichstag puts all doubt on that point at rest. England, however, having proclaimed her resolve, the course likely to be pursued by Germany is the course of shrewdness and common sense, two qualities that never fail to distinguish the Teutonic mind. Germany will elect to confine her colonising policy within legitimate and accessible limits. There is a field of action open to her in South Africa which only a slight political barrier interposes to shut her out from. We refer, of course, to the area of Portuguese rule. This, it is true, at present is an undefinable area. Portugal has been a colonising power only in name. To speak of Portuguese colonies in East Africa is to speak of a mere fiction—a fiction colourably sustained by a few scattered seaboard settlements, beyond whose narrow littoral and local limits colonisation and government have no existence. Had Portuguese rule in East Africa shown any sort of vitality or reality no one cherishing any regard for international amity could have any fair plea to desire its displacement. By the ordinary rules of conquest and occupation Portugal has a title to possession sanctioned by three centuries of existence. But the very fact that for 300 years the flag of Portugal has waved along the East Coast involves the condemnation of Portuguese rule. For what is there to show for it? What use has Portugal made of her acquisitions or opportunities? What effect has she produced upon the destinies of the Continent? What part has she played? What contribution has she made to the sum of the world's progress, to the cause of civilisation to the well-being of mankind? The answer to these questions is writ in characters of miserable failure. In no other part of the world has the European left so futile and so fruitless a trace of his presence as the Lusitanian has left upon the eastern shores of this Continent. This is a fact that will assuredly have ere long to be submitted to the judgment of Europe, and to the guidance of fast developing events. It is not necessary just now to consider how or when this question will come to be determined;{28} but the moment of settlement must come, and it will be strange should a power like Portugal succeed in resisting whatever pressure may be brought to bear by circumstances that may and that must arise. Should Germany hereafter be found the active occupant of some part at least of the lifeless heritage of Portugal we, in South Africa, shall have no cause of repining. Were the southern half of the Continent represented by England, Germany, and the internationalised region of Congonia respectively, the hopes and prospects of civilisation, of commercial progress, and of industrial activity, would be as bright and reassuring as lately they have seemed gloomy, and depressing. These three Powers, acting in concert and in good faith, would soon malte Africa an efficient rival to South America. Saxon energy, and Saxon enterprise would co-operate to rescue the Dark Continent from the sleep of ages, and to open out an era of vigorous dovelopment and social advancement that, but yesterday was a mere dream».
Natal tem apenas uma area de 21:000 milhas quadradas, area menor que só a dos prazos Gorongosa, Cheringoma o Chupanga. A provincia de Moçambique é portugueza ha quasi quatro seculos; comquanto Natal tenha sido recommendado ao governo inglez pelo Lieut. Farewell em 1823, como um posto que devia ser occupado, póde-se dizer que é só desde 1843 que a colonia de Natal foi formalmente declarada colonia ingleza.
Natal está dividida em quatorze condados e divisions com varias auctoridades distinctas para brancos e para pretos (porque em parte alguma, a não ser nas nossas colonias, são os pretos julgados pelo mesmo processo que são julgados os brancos, e punidos igualmente); até ha pouco havia para toda a região ao sul do Zambeze, que é de esperar virá a constituir o districto de Manica, e ainda para os prazos Luabo e Melambe, só o commando militar de Senna.
Natal tem cerca de 40:000 brancos, em parte introduzidos pelos auxilios que têem sido dados á emigração; na provincia de Moçambique, que contém em quasi todos os seus districtos areas proprias para a colonisação branca, mais extensas que a de toda a colonia do Natal, contando mesmo com os empregados das tres grandes casas commerciaes estrangeiras, não haverá de certo, alem dos empregados do governo, 200 pessoas brancas.
Portugal recebe os mais urgentes pedidos de todas as colonias, deseja, quanto possivel, satisfazer a elles, sangra-se e arruina-se com esse fim, e manda-lhes annualmente sommas, que repartidas por todas ellas ficam por tal modo diluidas que só servem para as continuar a fazer vegetar no estado que todos bem conhecem. Os grandes sacrificios da metropole são perdidos, e continúa de anno para anno, por exemplo, a sua mais populosa e mais importante cidade africana, debaixo de um sol abrazador, a soffrer os horrores da sêde.