Mr. D. M. Goodfellow's Modern Economic History of South Africa
(Routledge, 10s. 6d.), beginning with the development of the Rand in 1887, is an admirably dispassionate survey of the three main problems of the Dominion—the better use of the land, the native question, and the encouragement of industries. The author shows that irrigation schemes have not attained the desired results, but the old style of pastoral farming is slowly being modified ; more farmers are growing fodder for their cattle in winter, and thus protecting them- selves against South Africa's greatest enemy—drought. The complexity of the native question is emphasized. It differs in the several provinces, but the chief trouble is the inade- quacy of the native reserves for an increasing population with the larger herds in which the intelligent natives invest their savings. The high tariff on manufactured goods is explained as the outcome of the belief that the goldfields will sooner or later be worked out, and that South Africa will then have to turn to other industries. Mr. Goodfellow writes well and shows no political bias in dealing with these thorny problems.
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