Conditions in 1917.— So far, we have been discussing conditions in the Transvaal in 1903, when the production was £12,589,000, or $60, 000,000. Within two and a half years there after the Transvaal passed Australia in gold production and caught up. with the United States. In 1906 the territory became, what it has ever since remained, the world's greatest It is, therefore, apparent that the largest producer of these mines is yielding (at $4 a ton) over $8,000,000 a year of gold. Wonder ful as this is, yet these four great mines are scarcely as valuable as some of the new mines coming into wealth in the Far East Rand ter ritory. This new section has been developed by following the trend of the ore beds as they go deeper, and sinking shafts anywhere from 4,000 to 7,500 feet deep. These new mines are com ing into their best, while those quoted are at their zenith or declining. T. A. Rickard con siders the New Modderfontein the greatest mine in the world. In 1916 it was yielding 53,500 tons a month of very rich ore, averaging a value of $7.65 a ton, or 70 per cent more than the aver age for the whole Rand. But the wonderful part is that borings have tested out a continu ance of this rich ore to the total of nearly 20, 000,000 tons, so that this mine may reasonably look forward to a production of $125,000,000 worth of gold in the next 20 years. When will
this phenomenal supply of gold give out, as all gold mines and gold fields do eventually? In 1903 the accepted estimate of remaining gold to be mined was $3,500,000,000. Since then $2,000, 000,000 has been taken out, and yet some en thusiasts think there is $3,000,000,000 left.
South Africa as a whole gives no promise of becoming a leading factor in the economic life of the world. Mr. Bryce's forecast of the gold regions outside of the Rand throws light on the whole situation. He says: "Assuming that a fair proportion of the quartz-reef gold fields turn out well, it may be predicted that population will increase in and around them during the next 10 years, and that for some 20 years more this population will maintain itself, though of course not necessarily in the same spots, because as the reefs first de veloped become exhausted, the miners will shift to new places. After these 30 or possibly 40 years, that is to say, before the middle of the 20th century, the country, having parted with its gold, will have to fall back on its pasture and its arable land; but, having become settled and developed, it may count on retaining a reason able measure of prosperity.* (The above was written by John Hays Ham mond in 1903 and has since been revised by bringing the figures, etc., up to date.—ED.).