Page:EB1922 - Volume 32.djvu/556

532 of vessels cleared is not given, it corresponds closely to the figures of tonnage entered. ,

Year

No. of vessels entered

Net tonnage British

Net tonnage Total

1913 1915 1917 . 1919

4.349 3.322 3,888 3,060

10,586,000 7,298,000 7,682,000 6,642,000

12,939,000 7,937,000 9,252,000 7,608,000

The number of German ships entering Union ports in 1913 was 230, of 723,000 net tonnage.

Communications. Nearly all the railways in the Union are state owned. Railways and harbours are under the control of a Board, whose finances are independent of the other revenue departments. The mileage of railways open in 1910 was 7,586, of which privately owned lines had a mileage of 545. In 1919 the mileage open was 10,049, of which government lines had 9,542 mileage. It will be seen that development was rather slow, an average of 246 m. a year in a period of 10 years. The total expenditure on new lines in these 10 years was 9,113,000. The principal new line, that from Prieska to Kalkfontein connecting the Cape and S.W. Protectorate systems, was built for military purposes. The extension in 1913 of the railway from Krugersdorp via Zeerust to Mafeking brought Johannesburg and Bulawayo within 680 m. of one another (instead of 975 m. via Fourteen Streams) and made Mafeking the business centre for the western Transvaal. The opening, also in 1903, of the Messina rail- way, afforded the opportunity, by the building of a connecting line to W. Nicholson in S. Rhodesia of putting Bulawayo in direct com- munication with Delagoa Bay. But, up to 1921, the needed link had not been built (see RHODESIA). In the Cape province the completion of the Mossel-Bay-George-Oudtshoorn line gave a much more direct connexion between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth reducing the distance from 910 m. (via de Aar) to 684 m. (the distance by sea between the two ports is 436 nautical miles). The adoption of elec- tricity on a number of lines, including the main line from Durban to Glencoe was recommended in 1920 by the government's consulting engineer. The scheme was adopted by the ministry for the Cape Town-Simon's Bay line and for the Natal main line trom Durban as far as Maritzburg. With the electrification of the Durban-Maritz- burg line a new alignment was undertaken as part of a scheme for rebuilding the whole line from Durban to the Rand.

The Railways and Harbour Board after the World War took over control of the railways in the S.W. Protectorate. The total railway mileage in the Union and Protectorate at the beginning of 1920 was II ,334- .Up to March 31 1920 the capital expenditure on Govern- ment railways was 96,408,000. The gross earnings in 1919-20 were 19,169,000 and working expenses 78-9% of the gross earnings.

The use of motor vehicles greatly increased from 1913 onwards (when over 4,000 cars were imported), farmers having by then learned their value. In 1919 over 16,000 vehicles were licensed. Nearly all the cars came from America (United States and Canada), but heavy motor lorries were imported from England. Notwith- standing this development of motor traction the trek ox was still employed though in decreased numbers.

The extension of the telegraph system kept fair pace with the needs of the community, and wireless stations were erected at Durban, Cape Town and (in 1921) at Port Elizabeth. These were not of high power, the guaranteed range (at night only) not exceed- ing 1,500 miles. Wireless telephonic stations were added in 1921.

With respect to the mail service to England no improvement in speed was made. A contract to run for 10 years from Oct. I 1912 was entered into with the Union Castle Co. for a weekly service to and from Southampton, the duration of the voyage to be 16 days 15 hours. The subsidy paid was 171,000 yearly, of which 21,000 was in consideration of the mail steamers beginning and ending their voyages at Durban instead of Cape Town. The contracting parties were on the one hand the steamship company and on the other hand Great Britain, the Union, Southern Rhodesia and the Bechuanaland Protectorate. Postal communication with Australia, India and the Far East was maintained by private ships as oppor- tunity offered. A steamship service between Holland and S. Africa, subsidized by the Netherlands Government, was established in 1920, and in 1921 a direct service between S. Africa and Vancouver was started by the Canadian Government. While some 10,000,000 or more a year was spent on harbour works except at Durban (see DURBAN) the facilities for shipping were not greatly extended, and Cape Town suffered from lack of adequate dock accommodation.

Air travel developed slowly. The first aeroplane flight was made in 1910 in a Voisin biplane. Little progress was made in civil avia- tion until after the World War, when, in 1919, aerodromes were laid out at Wynberg, Bloemfontein, Johannesburg and other places as stages on the cross-Africa route. The first flight from Cairo to Cape Town was made in 1920 by two S.A. military pilots. In the same year an Aero Club for S.A. was formed at Cape Town.

Education. "Education, other than higher education," which definition in practice was held to include all education other than university, is controlled by the provincial councils. The standards and methods differ in each of the four provinces but in general provision is made for a sound training of white and coloured (as

distinct from native) children. A matter which aroused acute dissensions before and in the two years immediately following the establishment of the Union was the question of the medium of instruction. By law the English and Dutch languages were in a position of equality. An attempt to favour Dutch was made in the Transvaal schools, while in the Free State the education authorities tried to enforce bi-lingualism, insisting that English-speaking children should be taught in the medium of Dutch. Eventually all four provinces adopted the principle recommended by the Union Parlia- ment in 1911, namely that the medium of instruction up to standard IV. should be in the " home " language of the scholar, and that above that standard freedom of choice should be left to the parents. The compromise worked and in June 1912 the private schools which had been opened by the English speaking residents in the Free State in 1910 as a protest against compulsory bi-lingualism were handed over to the provincial administration. The subject of religious instruction presented little difficulty. The practice in each province in all public schools is for school to be opened with prayer and a reading from the Bible. Scripture teaching, subject to a conscience clause, is generally provided; sectarian teaching under certain conditions is allowed in the Cape province by an ordinance passed in 1913. The number of schools in the Union for white children increased from 3,873 in 1910 to 4,846 in 1918; in the same period the schools for coloured children increased from 1,999 to 2,877. The number of white scholars in 1910 was 163,200, in 1918 the number was 283,100. The coloured scholars had increased in the same period from 136,000 to 220,100. The teachers had increased from 10,912 to 18,301, and the expenditure from government funds had grown from 1,597,000 to 3,631,000. Private schools were not numerous: there were 270 in the Union in 1918, of which 96, the oldest dating from 1880, were in the Cape province. There were then in the Union 135 private schools founded since 1910.

State and state-aided schools for natives are provided in all the provinces, and in Natal and the Transvaal there are special schools for Indians. The expenditure on native schools rose from 81,000 in 1911 to 137,000 in 1918. In Natal in 1918 the government estab- lished an institution for training the sons of chiefs and indunas in the special duties they are called upon to perform. The education of the natives remained, however, very largely in the hands of mis- sionary societies, though there was a growing inclination, among the natives, particularly in the Transkeian territories, to secularize education and to obtain a larger direct share in its management. Of the 23 principal institutions which in 1919 provided higher educa- tion for natives literary, commercial, industrial, agricultural and training for the ministry 12 were in Cape province, the largest and most comprehensive being the famous Lovedale College. The most important step in regard to higher education of natives was the establishment in 1914 of the S.A. Native College on a site at Fort Hare, Cape province, given by the United Free Church of Scotland. To this college the natives and the missionary societies, Presbyterian, Anglican and Wesleyan, contributed; the Union Government gives an annual grant. The college aims at providing education of uni- versity standard and is open to coloured and Indian students.

The system of higher education was reorganized in 1918, after much heated controversy (see below History). Under the new scheme the university of S. Africa, with headquarters at Pretoria, which replaced the university of the Cape of Good Hope, is an ex- amjning body, having the following constituent colleges: Grey University College, Bloemfontein, Huguenot College (for women), Wellington, Natal University College, Pietermaritzburg, Rhodes University College, Grahamstown, South African School of Mines, Johannesburg, and Transvaal University College, Pretoria. The new university of Cape Town provides for the residence as well as the teaching of students ^men and women). A special feature of the new Stellenbosch University is its agricultural faculty (the Transvaal University College has also an agricultural faculty). The number of university students in the Union increased from 1,171 in 1910 to 2,069 in 1918. In the last-named year the expenditure on higher education in the Union was 240,000.

Finance. The unitary system of government adopted in 1910 was strongly marked in the financial provisions made. All public revenues were payable to the Union Government, and the funds needed to carry on the administration of the provinces were provided by grants from the Union Exchequer. By the Financial Relations Act which came into force in April 1913 the Union Parliament assigned the revenue derived from transfer duties, liquor licenses and native pass fees in Transvaal labour districts to the provinces, but gave the provinces no power of legislation in regard to such revenue. Other sources of revenue, such as education fees, trading and pro- fessional licenses were assigned to the provinces with power of legis- lation in regard thereto. A subsidy from Union funds of one half the ordinary expenditure of the provinces was also made, plus addi- tional subsidies to Natal and the Orange Free State whose funds were shown to be inadequate to meet the necessary expenditure. The provinces are not allowed to borrow from any other source than the Union Treasury.

All trust moneys, (e.g. post office savings bank moneys) are handed over for investment to the Public Debt Commissioners. Any yearly surplus of revenue over ordinary expenditure is paid to the Com- missioners and by them applied to the redemption of debt.