n to the agent!

One of the first monopolies established was for the manufacture of
spirits. The quality of liquor it supplies to the natives is atrocious.
To drunkenness is attributed a loss of 15 per cent. on the labour of
90,000 natives whose pay and food are equivalent to L40 per head, a loss
therefore of L550,000 a year.

[Footnote 16: _Le Siecle_, April 5th, 1900.]

2.--_The Dynamite Monopoly._

Two despatches, one from Mr. Chamberlain, dated January 13th, 1899, and
the other from the Transvaal Government, dated March 9th, 1899, indicate
how Mr. Krueger always meant to interpret Article XIV. of the Convention
of 1884:

On October 13th, 1893, the Transvaal Government granted a monopoly of
the dynamite trade to Mr. L.G. Vorstman for a period of 15 years. The
price of No. 1 dynamite was fixed at L4 15s. per case, of which 5s. was
to be paid to the Government.

The Transvaal Government maintains that this monopoly does not violate
the freedom of labour, as it was established in the interest of the
State, not in that of the concessionaires, and that the manufacture of
dynamite is forbidden to the Boers as much as it is to foreigners.

Mr. Chamberlain in his despatch denies that the dynamite monopoly has
been established in the interest of the State; and points out that even
according to General Joubert, Vice-President of the Republic, this is
really not a State monopoly but the monopoly of one, Lippert, because it
is he who has derived the greatest profits from it.

The monopoly company has always failed to fulfil its engagements; the
installation was to be completed in two-and-a-half years: in October,
1896, the company was only able to produce 80,000 cases, the
consumption at that time amounting to 200,000. The commission of the
Volksraad estimated that between 1897 and 1899 it would be necessary to
import 430,000 cases in addition to the quantity produced by the
company. It is more to the company's interest to import than to
manufacture, since importation affords a profit of L2 per case, and to
the State a duty of 5s. Were dynamite imported by the State itself, the
latter would realise about L860,000 instead of, as at present, L107,500,
making a difference of at least about L752,500.

The price at which dynamite is sold is from 40s. to 45s. above its real
value, from which excessive charge only certain individuals, living for
the greater part in Europe, derive the benefit. This fact is attested,
not by