Boer Politics

Gold i

Dr. Kuyper justifies th

of two points: first, that they are exempt from all military service; secondly, that it is a far more serious matter for the Boers to pay with their lives, and the lives of their sons, than it is for these wealthy owners of gold

f mines were so simple a matter, Boer intelligence would be equal to the undertaking. As they are not worked by them, it must be because there are di

you not take i

only fit for Kaffirs, consider gold mining beneath them, let alone that they have not the capacity for it. The

ortion of G

e-fourths reported a yield of 1/2 oz. per ton; some only 6 to 7 dwts. per ton. Consequently we find mines worked where one ton of rock

of Pro

in 1898 to 27s. 6d. This reduction of cost is in no way due to any reforms made by the Government, but to

ile. In some cases the proportion of sterile ore has amounted to as much as 40 per cent. The cost of production from the deep levels is 34s. 6d. Out of the pro

ted the debts of the Rand Companies at ￡5,515,000. "It is not unusual," he writes, "for th

is an Industr

there were, in 1896, 183 gold mines in the Transvaal. Of these 79 had been gold-producing, while 104

ituated in the Rand, 40 only were paying dividends, r

es men of the highest capacity, not a mere set of adventurers, as Dr. Kuyper and other Pro-Boers tell the simpletons who judge without e

utsiders, is usually a most capable man, and devoted to his work. Many and many a time, after his hard day's work should have been over, has a mine captain cheerfully started off with me on a three or four hours inspection of his workings, only too delighted to oblige, and asking merely that his visitor should show an intelligent interest in what he saw. To these men, and to the other heads of departments, to battery managers, cyanide works managers, assa

mechanics and the most highly skilled artisans: for it is to the interes

who rushed to the placers of California, or with the fancy picture of

on of the Gol

point out to him that before gold can be extracted from the rock, a vast amount must b

imagines that "the vultures" carry of

n that the greater part of this gold remains in the Transvaal, and

res from the supplement to

the last f

ofits. D

ders. Pa

ern

481 ￡1,595,9

942 2,329,9

811 1,918,6

,016 2,923,

,573 4,999,

----

￡13,767,59

ent, while the cost of production absorbed 45 per cent. The two last figures show that about 75 per cent., that is to say, three-quarters of the entire production remained in the Tra

estimate of the revenue was ￡3,329,000, the expenditure rose to

exceeded the shareholders' dividends; and when the reverse happened i

oduction and

is statement of January 26th 1899, Mr. Rouliot proved that the greater portion was in point of fact e

ery, which could only be constructed in Europe, and for Cyanide, to avoid hav

tributed ￡3,329,000 in salaries to their employés, native or European. If we take it that the expenditure of the sixty other Mining Companies, gold or coal, in the vicinity of Johannesburg, was similar to the above, we have a total of some

e "Vulture

us Convention, and stayed at the Albemarle Hotel, they found themselves, after the first few weeks unable to pay their bill, and Baron Grant had to come to their assistance. Now the "vultures" have been pouring some millions annually into the coffers of the Transvaal; a cer