PROSPEROUS SOUTH AFRICA.
It is impossible to read the address delivered at last Wednes- day's meeting of the shareholders of the Standard Bank of South Africa by Brigadier-General Sir Samuel H. Wilson without being re-impressed with the importance of the gold mining industry to the economic position in South Africa. The Report of the Standard Bank itself was a most excellent one, showing a substantial increase in profits, and these results, in their turn, have, of course, been closely linked with the improved economic conditions in South Africa, largely resulting from the activity and prosperity of the gold mining industry. This prosperity has been promoted, of course, by the currency premium on gold, and while rumours circulated some time since of the possibility of a lower price for the metal have caused some hesitation in putting into force projected plans for expansion in the mining industry, Sir Samuel Wilson remarked that " signs are not lacking that confidence is being restored and there appears to be no reason to believe that there has been any serious change in the fundamental con- ditions upon which the economic welfare of the Union of South Africa is based." Sir Samuel Wilson also drew attention to the fact that the general improvement in world commodity price levels during the year has materially strengthened the position of the agricultural industry as a contributory factor in the development of South African prosperity.
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