n the areas of their main
strength, even if such concentration makes the commandos
individually more dangerous and involves more desperate fighting,
and meanwhile to push on with might and main the settlement of
those parts of the country out of which they have been driven. No
doubt this is a difficult, and must be a gradual, process. The
full extent of the difficulty will appear from the sequel. But it
is the point to which the main efforts, of the civil authorities
at any rate, should be continually directed.

[Footnote 300: An under-estimate. One-fourth, or one-fifth,
would have been nearer the mark. See note, p. 454.]

[Sidenote: The return to the Rand.]

"If the latest phase of the military situation is maintained,
_i.e._, if we are able to prevent the Boers from breaking back
into the cleared areas, or from injuring the railway lines, I can
see no reason why the work of settlement should not proceed at a
greatly quickened pace in the immediate future. The most urgent
point is to bring back the exiled Uitlanders to the Rand, always
provided that they are able to find employment when they arrive
there. But the basis of any general revival of industrial and
commercial activity on the Rand is the resumption of mining
operations. So far it has only been found possible to proceed
very slowly in this respect. The full capacity of the Rand is
about 6,000 stamps. The first step was taken in April last, when
the Commander-in-Chief agreed to allow the Chamber of Mines to
open three mines with 50 stamps each. Up till now permission has
been granted for the working of 600 stamps, but only 450 have
actually been started. This is slow work, but even this
beginning, modest as it is, has made an immense difference in
the aspect of Johannesburg since first I came here in March last.

"The number of people allowed to return from time to time, for
other than mining employments, is in proportion to the number of
stamps re-started. This, no doubt, is a wise principle, for
business generally can only expand _pari passu_ with the
resumption of mining. Up to the present something like 10,000
people have been allowed to come up, the vast majority of them
being refugees, though there is a small new element of civil
servants and civilians in the employ