Salisbury and Bulawayo are described in separate articles. Umtali, which is the centre of a -gold mining area, has a white pop. of about 2,000 and a race course. Other towns are Gwelo, Enkeldoorn, Melsetter, and Hartley.
The railways are operated by a railway commission acting for the two Rhodesias and Bechuanaland (Railway Act 1926). The colony is well served, and is connected with Beira, the nearest port, the Belgian Congo and the Union of South Africa. There is through communication by the Rhodesian system from Cape town to the Congo border and, via Bulawayo and Salisbury, to Beira on the Indian Ocean. The lines, as far as possible, follow the watersheds. The standard gauge is 3 ft. 6 inches.
Farming exists in several forms, from ranching to tobacco-growing. Mixed farming is be coming more common, and dairying is practised on the smaller farms near the towns and mines. Maize is the chief crop. The acreage under crops (1925) was maize, 232,947; tobacco, 8,441; winter wheat, 4,526; ground-nuts, 5,067; cotton, 62,858. Citrus fruit for export can only be grown on land that can be irrigated during the winter months. Irrigation is still in its infancy, but several large citrus orchards are already producing, and in
boxes of oranges were exported. Ranching is
favoured by the climate, which allows the cattle to run out on the veld throughout the winter and to find sufficient food. There are about two million cattle in the country, more than half being owned by Europeans, generally in herds of from 600 to 1,000. They are grass fattened for market, or are sent on to agricultural farms for the final preparation.
Gold is still the chief mineral produced in the coun try. Most of the mines are on the high veld, and are widely dis tributed. The metal occurs in the ancient schists and in lodes within the margins of the granite. In 1927 the gold output was valued at L2,458,862. In the same year other mineral production included: asbestos, 33,176 tons; coal, 1,001,724 tons; chrome ore, 218,018 tons; and silver, 113,241 oz.
For the constitution under the letters patent of 1923 see RHODESIAN HISTORY below.
There were 75 primary and eight secondary schools for Europeans in 1925, and in addition a large number of state-aided farm schools. There were 1,297 schools for native and six for coloured children.