Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1913.djvu/346

 224 THE BRITISH EMPIRE : — UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA

up to 1905, when the Board made no further purchases, 1,109,081 acres had been purchased at a cost of 846,184/. In addition to this, 519, 632 acres were inherited from the late Orange Free State Government, vahied at 320,000Z., so that Government had at its disposal 1,628,713 acres, valued at 1,166,184Z. The whole of this was distributed among 647 settlers, or an average of a little under 2,270 acres each. The Board created in 1907 ceased to exist, in terms of the Constitution providing for the establishment of Responsible Govern- ment in the late Orange River Colony, on September 30, 1912, on which date there were 550 settlers, heads of f;imilies, under its contiol and well estab- lished upon the land, exclusive of 97 men who had completed purchase, thus becoming freehold owners. During tlie existence of the two Boards, over 1,200 settlers w^ere placed upon the land, the majority of whom aie still farm- ing in the Province. In oider to meet the wishes of the settlers who were sufficiently efctablislied to dispense with further assistance, the Union Government brought forward a new Act which, after receiving the approval of Parliament during the last Session, came into force on July 1, 1912. Under this Act (No. 15 of 1912) facilities are given settlers iu the Orange Free State to obtain Crown Grants of land on perpetual quit rent tenure, and practically every settler applied to the Board to come under this Act, thereby making it unnecessary for the Government to arrange for the continuation of any Administrative Body in respect of these settlers, after the demise of the Board on September 30, 1912, in accordance with the provisions of the Letters Patent. The capital sum of 1,250,000Z. received from Inter-Colonial funds has been expended on the experiment, and the Board handed over to the Union Government, in addition to some 70,000Z. in cash, assets in land and other securities amounting in value to a sum equal to, if not greater than, the capital sum above mentioned, which will be recoverable during the next 20 years or so, with meanwhile an assured income, in interest at 4 per cent., of 50,000/!. per annum.

In 1910-11 there w^ere 223,328 acres under wdieat. The live stock within the Province in 1911 was as follows :— Horses, 220,725 ; cattle, 1,286,234 ; sheep, 8,587,638 ; pigs, 162,656.

The principal mineral products in the last 4 years were as follows : —

Coal : Diamonds Salt

1

Year

Tons Value Carats Value

Tons

Value

1907-8

1908-9

1910

1911

468,292 145,373 ! 505,452 1,069,942 420,170 125,627 1 654,319 1 1,048,607 419,430 131,728 780,195 1,505,074 430,973 137,616 798,152 1,611,436

1

19,060 12,996 21,000

£ 32,000 17,100 31,U00

Commerce. — Since the coming into effect of the Union there are no special records of trade for each of the Provinces. The Board of Trade statistics, however, continue to give details of trade between the United Kingdom and each Province separately. The following figures show the value of the trade between the Orange Free State Province and the United Kingdom for four years : —