Natalia No 44 (2014)

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Natalia

Journal of theNatal Society Foundation

No. 44 (December 2014)

FS

Published by the Natal Society Foundation TrustP.O. Box 11093, Dorpspruit 3206, South Africa

SA ISSN 0085-3674

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Natalia44 (2014) Copyright Natal Society Foundation 2014

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Editorial

NATALIA 43 appeared last year without an editorial. Any such essaywould have done no more than tell readers what the journal contained,information which they could have acquired simply by consulting theindex.

But Natalia44 is different as, in a way, it marks the end of an era with theretirement, on grounds of poor health in each case, of two long-serving stalwartsof the editorial committee Dr Shelagh Spencer and Dr Bill Bizley.

Shelagh Spencers membership of the editorial committee goes back as far asthe sixth issue of the journal in 1976 under the editorship of the late Dr John Clark.Indeed, she is now the only survivor of the team of those days which producedthe journal. Basil Leverton, Margery Moberly and June Farrer have also died. Herlifes work, in which she is still engaged and for which she has been recognised

by the University of KwaZulu-Natal with the award of an honorary doctorate,

has been the compilation of a biographical register of the early British settlers inNatal. It has given her an encyclopaedic knowledge of the province in the secondhalf of the nineteenth century, from whichNataliahas beneted immeasurably.Many a time her editorial colleagues have been astonished by her picking up andcorrecting errors in obscure references buried deep in the endnotes of an article.

But the journal has beneted in another way from her skills. As a qualied

librarian, she has used her expertise to compile the annual list of Natal publications.The issue of Nos 36/37 which appeared in 2007 was the rst in which the compiler

was acknowledged, but Shelagh Spencer was at work years before that, ever sincethe retirement of June Farrer as deputy director of the Natal Society Library (inwhich capacity the latter was a member of the very rst Nataliacommittee in1971 and the secretary of the committee for many years). We are grateful to MrsJewel Koopman, another qualied librarian and until her retirement the director

of the Alan Paton Centre, for now undertaking our bibliographic compilation.

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1Natalia 44 (2014), pp. 1 8


Early proposed roads in theKwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg

Introducon

I RECENTLY came across two interesng reports on roads in the Government

Gazeesof 1853 and 1871. Research has been published on the early Natal

railways and harbours, but our early roads seem to have been ignored. The

publicaon of these short reports may inspire someone to ll this missing

aspect of KwaZulu-Natals colonial history.

The rst report, that of Captain R.J. Garden of the 45th Regiment, relates

his experiences in 1853 while searching for a wagon road over the Drakens-

berg in the Underberg area.

The wagon road over Van Reenens Pass was already in use in 1870. With

the opening of the diamond elds in the late 1860s an alternave, shorter

route was being sought. A wagon road over the Oliviers Hoek Pass was con-

sidered. The arguments for and against are presented in the second report

published here.

A table of distances, found in the Natal Almanac of 1871, is included. The

reports are produced here with the approval of the Naonal Archive, Pieter-

maritzburg Archive Repository. I have included endnotes for clarity.

VAL WARD

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NCP 6/1/1/4.Government Gazette No 246, Aug 23, 1853.

GOVERNMENT NOTICE No 37, 1853.

The Lieutenant Governor directs the publication of the following Report. Forgeneral information.By Command of the Lieut. Governor.(Signed) W.C. Sargeaunt, Colonial Secretary.Colonial Ofce

August, 16, 1853. *** Fort Napier, Natal August, 10th, 1853.

Sir,I have the honor [sic] to inform you that I proceeded on the 9thJune last, with

one wagon, seven soldiers 45thRegiment, and one civilian (Mr Williams1) to takethe command of an exploring party, which had started the previous month, to nd

a road over the Drakensberg.I joined this at the Umzimkulu River on 15th, and started from thence again on

the 17thJune, 1853.On the 31stJuly, on my return to the camp, near the sources of the Umzimkulu

River, after a patrole (sic) of thirteen days duration, I found the supplies of theexpedition almost consumed, the soldiers having been on a reduced and scantyallowance for some days. I therefore broke up my camp on the 3rdAugust, anddirected my course towards Pietermaritzburg. On arriving at the nearest kraals,

belonging to a branch of Amahlubi tribe, under the petty chief Umkombini,2andbeing entirely destitute of every description of food, we fortunately met with MrToohey.3

From the benevolent and kind hearted gentleman we received coffee, sugar, to-bacco, etc, through his intervention, meat and mealies from the Kars [sic], and

subsequently at his farm of Good Hope, on the Elands River4, abundant suppliesof coffee, sugar, meal, bread, potatoes, and pumpkins which were most gratefulto men reduced as we were from hunger and the want of the necessaries of life.

I reached Pietermaritzburg on the afternoon of the 8th instant.G. D. Greaves, Esq, Government Surveyor, will furnish a plan of the country,

which he has surveyed; the acquisition of which will be most valuable and inter-esting, showing as it will the direction taken by the Patroles [sic], and the countrythrough which the expedition has passed.

Both the Government and the public are alike totally ignorant of the difcul -ties, toilsome labour, and suffering from hunger, the members of the expeditionhave undergone.

Ignorance of the country, absence of guides possessing local knowledge, cold-ness of the weather, bad quality of the grass, impossibility of procuring suppliesof mealies and vegetables from the Kars [sic], burning of the grass by personseither ignorant of or hostile to the party, badness of the draught cattle, the rocky

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and precipitous nature of the country, and the breaking of the fore wheel of oneof the wagons are the causes which tended greatly to delay the expedition.

The vastness and steepness of the spurs of the Drakensberg, the innumerablekloofs which had to be ascended, descended or avoided, the difculty and toil-some labour of walking through long and slippery grass, the smoke arising fromthe country being on re, which obscured the view, the pitiable and foot-sore

condition of the horses from want of good food, and the stony nature of the coun-try, and scanty daily quantity of our own provisions, at times barely sufcient to

sustain life, are the obstacles which impeded the movements of the patroles [sic].The line of the Drakensberg has been carefully examined from the source of

the most South Western tributary5of the Umzimkulu River, to the Giants Castleon the North eastern side, and I can honestly and conscientiously state that be-

tween these points there is no place where a wagon can be driven up the moun-tain without the construction of a road, and which latter could only be effected atconsiderable expence [sic].

The kloof at the source of the little Umcomanzi River6is the nearest point atwhich a road7can be made, and which I am condent has never been visited byany human beings, except Bushmen, maurauding Kars [sic] from the Sover-eignty, and natives forced to y thither for refuge during the reigns of Chaka and

Dingaan.Of the country over the Drakensberg I know nothing.

I am of the opinion further that the Bushmen inhabit the country forming theimmediate spurs or buttresses of the Drakensberg on the Southern side, and fromwhence from time to time they make incursions upon the frontier farms whitherthey retire at the approach of a foe and into which the pursuing parties havenever yet sufciently penetrated.

I have, etc, etc, etc, (Signed) R.J. GARDEN Capt. 45thRegt.

To the HonorableThe Colonial Secretary.

NCP 6/1/1/22.The Natal Government Gazette, January 17, 1871.

L.C. No 5, 1871.

The following report of a Select Committee of the Legislative Council appointedto consider the correspondence respecting the Oliviers Hoek Road, and the post-al communication with the Diamond-elds is published for general information.

By order of the Legislative Council, THOMAS FOSTER. Clerk.

11thJanuary 1871.****

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Report of a Select Committee appoint-

ed to consider the correspondence

respecting the Oliviers Hoek Road,

and the postal communication with the

Diamond-elds.

Your committee had before it thefollowing documents referring to the

proposed new road to the Diamond-elds.

1. A Letter from the Lieutenant Gov-ernor8 to President Brand, enclos-ing Address No. 44 of the Council.

2. The reply of President Brand there-to.3. The report of the Colonial Secre-

tary9, which is not dated, but whichthe Colonial Secretary informed thecommittee had been laid before theLieutenant Governor on or aboutthe 10th October, and which waslaid before the committee on De-

cember 30th

, 1870.4. Report of the Civil Engineer10 forthe colony, dated December 30th,1870, and laid before the commit-tee January 6th, 1871.

5. Report of Mr Allison, BorderAgent, residing at Oliviers Hoek,not dated, but presented on the 6thJanuary 1871.

The gentleman who furnished thesereports gave evidence before the com-mittee, in explanation of their severalreports, and evidence was obtainedfrom other gentlemen acquainted withthe district, or who had travelled bythe route along which it is proposed tomake the new road.

The point of departure of the newroad, it is agreed, should be at Est-court. The committee would, in therst place, compare the two roads from

their point of divergence to the frontierof the colony on top of the Drakens-

berg.

The Colonial Secretary, in his re-port, estimates both these portions ofthe roads to be exactly the same length.He stated the distance from Estcourt toGood Hope11 to be 59 miles, and asit is just six miles more to the top ofthe mountain, the entire distance fromEstcourt to the top of the Drakensberg

by Van Reenens Pass is computed tobe 65 miles. The reports of the CivilEngineer and Mr Allison state the dis-tance to be 66 and 65 miles respective-

ly. The Colonial Secretary estimatesthe distance from Estcourt to the topof Oliviers Hoek Pass to be also 65miles, while Mr Allison and the CivilEngineer say it is but 63 miles. It istherefore evident that the greatest sav-ing in distance which can be effected

by the new line of road to the top of themountain will be two to three miles.

But to effect this your committee wasinformed a new piece of road wouldhave to be made from Loose Kop,12toOosthuysens Spruit,13 which wouldhave the effect of shortening the exist-ing road to the foot of Oliviers HoekPass three to four miles.

Though the actual distance to besaved is small, it was alleged in favour

of this route, that the pass is much lesssteep, and that therefore a consider-able saving of time would be effectedin making the ascent, as the wagonscould travel faster than they can upVan Reenens Pass.

The Civil Engineer informed thecommittee that about 1 600 would berequired to make the road from Est-court to the top of Olivers Hoek Passsuitable for heavy trafc, and that to

bridge the three streams which wouldoccasionally be unfordable namelythe Sterk Spruit,14 the Little Tugela,15and the Great Tugela16 would require

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an additional sum of 3 200. But healso stated that this road when madewould be a good road, comparativelylevel, would be sound and hard, andwould be easily kept in repair, as thereis good material in the vicinity of theroad for that purpose. He also statedthat the road up Van Reenens Pass,though at present in good repair, wasnot naturally so rm, that the ascent up

the mountain was steeper, and wouldtherefore make the road at that part

more liable to injury from heavy rains,and that there was no good materialnear the road suitable for mending it.

The only other evidence the commit-tee took on this point was from Mr J.N.Boshoff,17who was of opinion that theroad up Van Reenens Pass is as hardas any road over the mountain, andthat there is plenty of suitable material

near for repairing it. But Mr Boshoffstated that he had not seen OliviersHoek Pass.

Mr Boshoff and the Civil Engineeragreed in stating that were the road byOliviers Hoek Pass made, that by VanReenens Pass would still have to bemaintained, and that a bridge over theTugela at Colenso would be as much

required as at present.Your committee found that though

only three miles would be saved be-tween Estcourt and the top of themountain, to obtain so small an advan-tage a rst outlay of 1 600 would be

required, and if the three steams werebridged 3 200 additional would beneeded, and that a considerable annualextra expenditure would be required tokeep the new road in repair.

It became necessary, consequently,to ascertain whether any large savingof distance could be effected beyondthe mountain in the territory of the

Orange Free State to justify so largean expenditure as had been stated to berequired on the Natal side.

The Civil Engineer clearly de-scribed to the committee the road hehad examined. This road commencesat the top of Oliviers Hoek Pass, and

joins the present upper road fromHarrismith to Bethlehem near the driftover Elands River.18The length of this

piece of road the Civil Engineer esti-mated at 28 miles, while the distance

from the top of Van Reenens Pass tothe same point by way of Harrismithis 44 miles, thus showing a saving of16 miles. But the Civil Engineer statedthat by making a road from the top ofVan Reenens Pass along the left bankof the Wilge River, not only would asaving of four miles be effected, butthat wagons would be saved the neces-

sity of crossing the Wilge River twice.If this piece of road were made the sav-ing of 16 miles, which the Civil Engi-neer showed to be possible, would bereduced to 12 miles. The entire savingfrom Estcourt to Elands River wouldconsequently be 15 miles, or until theroad by the left bank of the Wilge riveris made, 19 miles. The report of the

Civil Engineer states the saving to beonly 18 miles, but this slight differencearises from a clerical error in the com-

putation.The Colonial Secretary and Mr Al-

lison together inspected a road in thesame locality. These gentlemen seemto have taken a course a little to thesouth of that explored by the Civil En-gineer, and after travelling the samedistance as that gentleman, nearly 20to 30 miles, found themselves six milesfrom the Elands River, and about thesame distance from the upper road

between Harrismith and Bethlehem.

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Brand has intimated, in reply to theLieutenant Governor, that his Govern-ment cannot construct a road throughso swampy a locality.

The committee has not ascertainedthat any reports, or evidence respect-ing the proposed road, except the letterof President Brand and the report ofthe Colonial Secretary, accompanied

by a sketch of the district (which thecommittee has not seen), and a tableof distances prepared by Mr Allison,

were before the Government at thetime when the Lieutenant Governorin his opening speech informed theCouncil that the Government had notdesisted from pushing forward therepairs of the pass by Oliviers Hoek,and the completion of the road lead-ing to it, by which line of route I am

persuaded, after full enquiry, a very

considerable saving of distance maybe effected.Your committee is of opinion that

the advantages expected to be gainedby the proposed new route are insuf-cient to justify at present the large

outlay which would be required forthe construction of the road, and forkeeping it in repair, especially as the

expense both of making and maintain-ing it, on both sides of the mountain,would fall on this colony. The commit-tee would, however, recommend thatas the road on both sides of the moun-tain is to some extent practicable forwagon trafc, that a sum not exceed-ing 300 be expended in improvingthe Pass, so that transport riders mayhave an opportunity of testing the suit-ability of the road.

The committee would point outthat no reference is made in Presi-dent Brands letter to the line of road

beyond Van Reenens Pass, which

by keeping along the left bank of theWilge River, would enable wagonersto avoid that river, and thus prevent thenecessity of crossing it twice, as wellas shorting [sic] the distance whichwas mentioned in the address to theLieutenant Governor from the Councilon the 8th September last, and wouldrecommend that negotiations should

be entered into with the Governmentof the Orange Free State, with a viewto making the road available.

Your committee has carefully con-sidered the correspondence on thesubject of improved postal arrange-ments with the Orange Free State, andthe report of the Postmaster General22thereon, and is of opinion that the plan

proposed by the Postmaster General,as improved by the Lieutenant Gover-nor, should be carried out as early as

practicable.

ENDNOTES

1 Mr Williams - not identied.

2 Umkombini - not identied.

3 Mr. Toohey Daniel Charles.4 Elands River is a tributary of the Upper

uMkhomazi River.5 The south-western tributary of the Umzimkulu

is probably the Mlambanja River on which theDrakensberg Gardens resort is situated.

6 The uMkhomazana River7 Now the Sani Pass.8 Lieutenant Governor of Natal, His Excellency

Robert W. Keate. Lincolns Inn barristeradmitted 1844. Came to Natal as Governor in1867. Previously Commissioner of SeychellesIslands 1849; Lt-Gov. of Granada in theWest Indies 1853; Lt-Gov of Trinidad 1856.Arbitrator in boundary disputes South AfricanRepublic and Orange Free State 1870 for

Republic; South African Republic and Griquachiefs 1871 for the Griquas.9 Colonial Secretary, Hon. D. Erskine.10 Colonial Engineer, P. Paterson.11 Good Hope, six kilometres from top of Van

Reenens Pass.12 Loose Kop, probably Loskop,13 Oosthuysens Spruit, probably near Bergville.

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9Natalia 44 (2014), Paul Thompson pp. 9 18


The Long Weekend

There had been no rain for some time.The trees in the park were showing it.The Borough Engineer warned of pos-sible water restrictions, which meantthat people would have to curtail wa-tering their gardens but this was

not unusual at this season. Friday 31stJuly 1914 was typical of a dry Natalmid-winter day. Temperatures duringthe week rose to 88, 87, and 90 F,[3032 C] but the nights were stillcool. There was a long weekend ahead

Monday August 3rdwas a bank holi-

day and, as might be expected, theweather took a turn against sport. OnFriday the 31ststrong berg winds drovedust into shops, ofces and houses,

even carried off the roof of an Indianshouse and deposited the debris in thetelegraph wires nearby, and the sky was

overcast. The temperature fell from 82to 75 on Saturday and 70 on Sunday,there were heavy frosts in town andsnow fell on the Drakensberg. Expectrain, theNatal Mercurycorrespondentsaid, but there was no rain, althoughit stayed in the mid-seventies [about

The outbreak of the Great WarHow Pietermaritzburg reacted

by Paul Thompson

THIS arcle briey describes how people in Pietermaritzburg received the

news of the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914. It is based on

a reading of the two Pietermaritzburg newspapers The Natal Witnessand

The Times of Natal, and also on local correspondents reports in Durbans

The Natal Mercury. The material, and therefore this selecon of it, reects

very much the atudes and interests of the English-speaking middle class

of the city.

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The outbreak of the Great War

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23C] for the next few days. So thesports went on. On Saturday afternoonthere was a Currie Cup match betweenSouth-Western Districts and Rhodesia

played at the Show Ground. The othermatches were played elsewhere, andmore of them over the long weekend,

but, of course, they received full cov-erage in the daily papers for a goodfortnight. Also for those who couldafford to travel to Durban, there weretwo Races on Thursday and the Stew-

ards Cup on Saturday, the 1

st

of August.The weather had to be right on Mon-day the 3rdfor the Bank Holiday com-

petitions at the Maritzburg Golf andCountry Club. There were about thesame number of motor car and cycleshops in Maritzburg as there werewagon- and carriage-makers now,and motor vehicles presented a new

challenge to the corporations mainte-nance of roads. More compelling foracionados of the modern, the Motor

Cycle Club had arranged an all-dayendurance test for Monday. It startedat 8.30, with legs from Maritzburg toWeston, Weston to Greytown (lunch),and Greytown to Maritzburg, all care-fully planned and timed by members

in advance. Solo machines were notto exceed twenty miles per hour, thosewith sidecars eighteen. The organis-ers were disappointed that out of 120club members, there were only eigh-teen entries (sixteen solo and two side-car). TheNatal Witnessgave the eventfront-page cover, with a detailed mapof the course. The route is certainlyone which presents many difculties.

At Weston there was not enough petroland contestants had to go in to MooiRiver for it. The race should have last-ed about eight hours, but one entrantgot back to Maritzburg at 9.30 thatnight.

There was also the fortnightly danceat the Oddfellows hall on Saturdayevening, and the Cape Town Munici-

pal Orchestra, on a countrywide tour,would give two concerts in the TownHall on Monday and Tuesday eve-nings.

One old timer, a keen shottist whodeplored the decline of interest inshooting, blamed the young men abouttown for apathy and self-indulgence.The latest turn at the Rinko, or per-

haps the newest socks, ties or motor bi-cycles are more in their line. Indeed,modern technology brought not onlymotor vehicles but the bioscope. Therewere two of these in town, the Rinkoin Longmarket Street and the Excel-sior (The Cosy Little Bio-Theatre inChapel Street). They were very cen-tral, like the majority of businesses

and ofces in town, situated within aten-minute walk of the Town Hall. TheRinko had lm and vaudeville shows,

the Excelsior lms. Both had evening

performances at eight, and Saturdaymatinees at three oclock, and bothchanged the programmes on Mondaysand Thursday.

The Rinko was nishing a pro-

gramme including the The CycleryBuffoons and the Hersleb Brothers,two of the greatest comedy acts yet tovisit this City, plus a dramatic photo

play entitled An Ofcer and a Gen-tleman and a variety of six short lms.

The Excelsior was concluding Anoth-er Grand Programme which includeda twenty-minute Keystone Companycomedy entitled Mabels Strange Pre-dicament and the Star Drama enti-tled The Luck of Life. (Both theatrehouses included Gaumonts Graphic,evidently a newsreel of contemporaryevents and scenes.)

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Monday brought new programmesto both. At the Rinko there were Jarviseand Martine (novel comedy jugglers);Maudie Ford, singing and dancing;and the female duettists the Minne-singers. There was also the usual PathGazette, and several comic short lms.

The Times of Natalreviewer noted thatthe gazette included Joseph Chamber-lains funeral. Maudie Ford was good,if one liked the ragtime craze in soundand dance, and she was well received.

The Minnesingers were almost toogood: There is nothing music-hallyabout them. At the Excelsior therewas a Sensational Feature, WhenThe Lights Went Out:

The Film is in 3 Parts, and rarely hasthere been such a combination ofthrilling incidents with a powerfulplot on the screen. The story of this

lm is exceptionally dramatic, and soskilfully presented that ones attentionis held spellbound from start to nish.

The audience was told there wouldbe scenes of a shipwreck and the blow-ing up of a lighthouse. Paths LatestGazette, another newsreel, and threecomic shorts would also be shown. TheTimesreviewer had little to say aboutall this, except that the shipwreck wasa ne photographic picture and the

blowing up of the lighthouse wasvery realistic.

There was also a municipal electioncampaign in progress. The city wasdivided into eight wards the mainline of division was Church Street, and

the wards were separated by Chapel,Commercial and Boshoff cross streets.Almost everyone lived in town, but thewards extended outward to take in thefew suburbs. The Town Council com-

prised the bourgeois elite of a class-conscious British community. Elec-tions were fairly humdrum, if they oc-

curred at all, and a popular incumbentcould feel safe about his seat. Therewere two councillors for each ward,and one was elected every other year.In 1914 candidates contested onlyWards 2, 4 and 5, but the contenderfor ward 4 dropped out before nomina-tions were led. Tom Reid, formerly

of Ford Brothers ironmongers, stoodforward in Ward 5 to replace HughParker, who was retiring because of illhealth. Councillor G.B. Laffan, an ar-

chitect and civil engineer, stood for re-election in Ward 2. They were opposedby men associated with the LabourParty, M.E. Piesold, a watchmaker, andW. Clowes, respectively. One mighthave expected a lively campaign, es-

pecially because women could vote inlocal elections for the rst time; but

instead the fortnights campaign was

quite the usual tame affair. Publicmeetings were few; Labour candidatesproved less articulate than their oppo-nents; and both sides played safe andtalked about saving ratepayers money.

Yet there was more than this to stim-ulate the publics interest. The news ofthe preceding week was increasinglyabout war in Europe. At rst it jostled

for position on the front and featurepages of the papers with news of theCurrie Cup, local parliamentary elec-tions, and the like, and, of course, theIrish trouble seemed closer to homeand quite as bad. On Monday July27th the Witness heralded Austriadeclares war on Servia.[The namesServia and Serbia were both used at

the time.] Ambassador withdrawn.Troops moved to the border. Russia in-tervenes. Five army corps mobilized.Great sensation in Europe. Fall in Con-sols. Three out of the ve columns of

the front page carried war news. Thatevening the Times, which was usually

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nal and half-time Currie Cup scores,

mentioned a (false) rumour of a militiacall-up, and last, ominously: Thereare indications in London that all par-ties are now agreed, and that an impor-tant announcement is imminent.

Tuesday, 4thAugust 1914

The Witness headlines ran: Thetide of war. Russian advances intoGermany. German forces pour intoFrance. Kaiser loses two ofcers.

Britain calm but practical. Dominionsrally to the ag. Important British

statement awaited. The front page wasall war news, except for a four-column

photograph at the top, captioned: TheCurrie Cup tournament: the WesternProvince team, and there were two

photographs of play. That evening theTimes was hardly as informative: The

Empire in Suspense! No War News.Cables Interrupted. Messages HeldUp. Censors Appointed. Readers hadto be content with some speculativereports and local news, and perhapssome useful advice: Cablegramsfor Germany. Stopped Until further

Notice. (The second pages of bothpapers carried advertisements for

German steamship companies asusual.)

Of course, no one could know aboutthe British ultimatum to Germany,demanding withdrawal from Belgium,and it would be the middle of the nightwhen it expired. The weekday passedas it usually did. That evening therewere the same features at the Rinko and

Excelsior. The Cape Town orchestrassecond and last performance in theTown Hall featured TchaikovskysFifth Symphony, some pieces byGrieg and Grainger and, ironically,

preludes from Wagners Lohengrin,Parsifal, Tristan and Isolde and The

Flying Dutchman. The four candidatesfor the Town Council made their lastelection speeches at different venues.

None had anything new to say, and theone incumbent probably attracted thesmallest audience.

Wednesday, 5thAugust 1914

The news that Britain (and thereforethe Empire and South Africa) was atwar came later in the day. The Witnessfront page declared: Naval battle be-tween Germany and Russia. Russianeet driven into Gulf of Finland. Brit-ish Fleet Cleared for Action. SouthAfrica and the War. There was evena framed communiqu in column 2:A reassuring statement. Britain stillaloof. Ofcial announcement: Be

calm and condent. But it was dated

Pretoria, 6.15p.m. Tuesday.

Shortly after eleven the news wasreceived. Both newspapers issued spe-cials and the news spread like wildre,

as may be imagined. Small groups ofmen who were in the streets talkingabout the war received it rst, and

cheered. Most people did not. Themajority were shocked; some leadingcitizens seemed quite nonplussed. Evi-

dently some hope had lingered withgovernments last bit of reassurance.And the news came piecemeal. Thecomplete speech by Sir Edward Grey

justifying Britains declaration was notreceived in full until late in the after-noon. With it, the Timesdispelled anylingering hope and doubt: Britain In-tervenes At Last. The Declaration of

War. Message at Midnight. England,France, Russia v. Germany and Aus-tria. Ofcial Announcement.

It was a day of disruption, as theTimes observed: Sufce to say, the

news has caused a great feeling ofrestlessness everywhere, and there

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seems to be an inclination for every-one to temporarily suspend everything

pertaining to the ordinary routine oflife. Evidently early in the day theorganising committee of the WestCountry Dinner, scheduled for the 10that the Creamery Hotel in LongmarketStreet, decided to postpone the event:It is felt that rejoicings and jubila-tions would be entirely out of place atthe present juncture when Britain may

be involved in war. Purchasers were

nevertheless advised to keep their tick-ets, as a long postponement was notexpected. The Womens Enfranchise-ment League was more realistic. Itscommittee met later and suspended

public meetings for the duration ofthe war: it would henceforth under-take any other kind of work that may

be helpful to the country in the mean-

time. It is not clear if the Oddfellowspostponed their annual ball and theOverseas Club postponed their bridgedrive that evening, but apparently theentertainment houses were open asusual. The disruption of the day wastemporary, as the Times explained:Business men, lawyers, tinkers, tai-lors, in fact every one, accepted the

inevitable with the calm, so character-istic of the average Britisher at a timeof great national tension.

The municipal election turned outto be a damp squib. Not many elec-tors turned out, and there was no last-minute rush to the polls. At the TownHall, Tom Reid had a eet of motor

cars to fetch voters, and they gave abit of bustle and brightened up ChurchStreet with their colourful decorations.Reid defeated Piesold 176 34. At theOddfellows there was apparently moreaction. The candidates tables anked

the entrance, and lady greeters huggedvoters and pinned colours on them (red

for Clowes, blue for Laffan) as theyarrived. Clowes was trying hard, andthere were probably more real work-ers in Ward 2. Nonetheless he wasdefeated by Laffan 296 159. Pollsclosed at six, and forty-ve minutes

later the results were announced. Thecandidates thanked their loyal support-ers; they all gave three cheers for theReturning Ofcer (the Town Clerk),

and went home. The Witness observed:Had it not been for the fact that the

tragedy of war hangs over everyone,the contest would possibly have as-sumed a more important place in the

public eye.

Anticlimax

The programme at the Rinko was notchanged on Thursday Jarvise andMartine, Maudie Ford, and the Min-

nesingers remained on stage, perhapsbecause they really were drawcards but the photoplay was changed, witha drama entitled Child of My Heartand three comedy and two educationalshorts, including Russian Mountainsand Tour of the Caucasus. At the Ex-celsior there was something new: TooMany Brides, another Keystone com-

edy starring Ford Sterling; a Crystalcomedy His Vacation: The Adven-tures of a Seaside Tripper with theEyes of Love; and a two-reel dramaThrone or Wife? Plus the newestGaumont Graphic.

The Currie Cup tournament n-ished at the end of the week on Sat-urday over 3 000 spectators at Lords

Grounds in Durban watched WesternProvince defeat Transvaal. The AugustHandicap and eight other races wererun the same day.

The one topic that did not comeand go was the war. On Thursday theMaritzburg correspondent of theNatal

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Mercury commented: The greatestpatriotism is in evidence on all sides,but the news has been received withcharacteristic British calmness. OnFriday he elaborated:

Naturally enough, scarcely anythingfinds a place in local thought orconversation except the war, andnumerous dinners and functionshave been postponed in view of thesituation. All news is enthusiasticallyand greedily received, and except,perhaps, among a few Socialists in

the place, a thoroughly patriotic spiritpervades the public.

The next few days were anti-climac-tic in respect of news. The morningWitness caught up with the eveningTimes on the full news of the decla-ration of war, and both newspaperscarried Lord Greys speech and full

commentaries. There certainly was nofalling off of interest on the part of lo-cal readers. During the week August 1st

8ththe Witnessprinted 11 863 morecopies than in the previous one. The

problem if it can be called that forthe newspapers was that the war itselfdid not move fast enough and supplyfront-page drama. Petty combats were

magnied. Of course, there was muchon the Royal Navy moving into the

North Sea but to do what?Ofcial censorship now applied

even locally, and for the rst time sen-tences and paragraphs here and therein the press were blacked out, presum-ably because they told of intendedtroop movements. The South Stafford-shires the Imperial garrison at Fort

Napier returned from annual ma-noeuvres. Nothing was said, but natu-rally orders for their departure wereexpected. There were many rumoursin the air, not least the one about mili-tia being called up for service in Brit-

ish or German East Africa depend-ing on which rumour one heard. Theywere, however, promptly scotched bythe authorities. Durban Active Citi-zen Force units were mobilised, butnot Maritzburg ones, and one won-ders why. Reservists of the Union De-fence Force received orders to reportfor duty at Roberts Heights. No oneknew how many of them there were inMaritzburg, but it was thought manyof them must be railwaymen. All leave

was cancelled for the local unit of theSouth African Mounted Riemen.The run-up to war in the press had

many references to disruption of in-ternational and national markets, lossof investments, and attacks on ship-

ping which might affect exports andimports such as Australian wheat forSouth Africa. There was an early of-

cial assurance that South Africa hadenough maize to feed itself. Yet whenthe war came there was a rush on foodstocks not only in Pietermaritzburg,

but all over South Africa, as well as inEngland itself. It was about a week be-fore the panic subsided and shoppingand prices returned to normal.

On Tuesday the 4th there had been

a rumour in town that Durban mer-chants, in view of a shortage of sup-

plies in consequence of the crisis, hadmet and decided to raise the prices offoodstuffs. The Timesinterviewed thesecretary of the Maritzburg Chamberof Commerce, Robert Dunlop, aboutthis, and he dismissed the rumour. Achange in the prices of foodstuffs wasunlikely, barring some extraordinaryevent, he said; but he conceded therewas a shortage of rice, which had risenin price by about 2s.6d. [two shillingsand sixpence] a bag. The chamber wasgoing to meet on Friday and discussthe situation.

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Of course, war is an extraordi-nary event, and so there was indeeda change in the prices of foodstuffs.There was a rush on local stores onWednesday, and grocers checked theirstocks. The rush continued on Thurs-day, and some items ran out. Flourand parafn become almost unobtain-able, and consignments were bookeda week in advance. One householder,who normally bought two bags of our

at a time, suddenly ordered twelve.

Some others laid in a six months sup-ply. Africans and Indians joined Eu-ropeans in the rush. Local Indians ap-

pealed to the chamber to see that theprice of rice, their staple diet, wouldnot rise beyond the means of the poor.The price of rice went from 25s. to 2a bag in two days. Indians apparentlywere laying in as much of it as they

could afford. Muslim shopkeepers toldthe Witnessthat they could not preventthe increase in price because Durbanmerchants imposed it on them.

The price of petrol rose to 1 a case[It is not known how many gallons thisrepresented.], and supplies quicklygave out, because a by-law limited thequantity that could be stored on prem-

ises. Some wholesalers tried to lay inmore coal and wood, but when one of-fered coal at 27s.6d. a ton, few store-keepers responded. It should be notedthat whatever processed foods wereselling for in the shops, food priceson the local produce market remainedfairly steady, e.g.maize sold for 4s.3d.

4s.7d. per 100 lbs on Tuesday, 4s.6d. 4s.9d. on Wednesday, and Tuesday aweek later at 5s.; while sorghum soldfor 4s 4s.6d., 3s.3d. 5s., and 3s.6d.- 5s. During the same period the priceof fresh beef remained steady at 3d. 6d. per lb.

A number of shopkeepers reserved

stock for their regular customers, andrefused to supply others, except lim-ited amounts for cash. This producedan outcry, and by the end of the weekthere were reports of consumers blam-ing greedy shopkeepers for proteer-ing, and shopkeepers blaming pan-icky consumers for hoarding, and theresult was a great ination of prices.

The merchants said that if only publicdemand would return to normal, sowould prices. Indeed, they expected a

slump soon. The press urged the mer-chants, wholesalers and retailers, toget together and tell this to the public.They also called on the government tointervene to regulate prices.

There is no record of the Chamberof Commerces meeting on Friday, butit would be surprising if the membersdid not follow the suggestion, for there

quickly appeared various notices in thepapers promising to keep down prices,especially for valued customers. Oneleading citizen, G.F. Macfarlane, didask ofcials to intervene to regulate

prices, but got no response. Then hewired General Smuts, the Ministerof Defence, saying that Durban andMaritzburg merchants had held back

supplies and raised prices by 25% andupward: the government must investi-gate and regulate! Again there was noresponse.

A Patriotic Demonstration

The election of the new Town Coun-cil, even though it involved only twocouncil seats, pre-empted ofcial mu-

nicipal activity on Wednesday, whenthe declaration of war was announced.The new council had to meet, andthen elect a new mayor and deputymayor, and this had to proceed in ameasured, lawful manner. Thus therewas no immediate or spontaneous re-

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in regard to the war. The band of theNatal Carbineers would perform. Theprogramme would begin with the na-tional anthems of Britain, France andRussia. These would be followed insequence by Elgars Land of Hopeand Glory, a march (Old Com-rades), and three medleys of the airsof England (G. Godfrey), Ireland (H.Basquit) and Scotland (F. Godfrey).Appropriately, the musical programmewould end with the regimental march

and God save the King.The evening was cool and dry, themoon was full. Long before eightoclock crowds were moving throughthe streets towards the Town Gardens.They assembled around the bandstand;

by the time the time the band began toplay there were about 4 000 people. Alarge Union Jack was produced and

paraded about, to the accompanimentof loud cheers.The programme began with the na-

tional anthems, each followed by threecheers. The march (perhaps consid-ered too German?) was omitted. Therewere the medleys of regional airs.Then Deputy Mayor Sanders climbedon to the bandstand and announced

that schoolboy soprano Eddie Palmerwould sing God save the King. The

band and audience joined in the sec-ond verse, and cheered. By this time

Bandmaster Keilly no longer tried tokeep to the printed programme. Whatthe people wanted and what they hadwas God Save the King and RuleBritannia and plenty of it.

The baritone Mr Glasspoole mount-ed the stand and sang Land of Hopeand Glory. All joined in, and cheered.A procession went around the band-stand, led by the ag. A past president

of the Sons of England, Mr Kingston,sang Soldiers of the King, and the

crowd joined in the second verse. Therewere more cheers, and shouts for thearmy and the navy. The band playedthe French and Russian anthems again.Mr. Sanders shouted Vive la France,and everyone cheered. Someone elsecalled Cheers for Russia, whichwere duly given.

The programme came to an end

when the crowd massed close roundthe band stand, and cheered the RoyalFamily, Canada, the Overseas Domin-ions, and (loudest of all) plucky littleBelgium. They sang God save theKing and (a fourth time) Rule, Bri-tannia, gave three cheers, and wenthome.

So began in Pietermaritzburg the

four-year period that would see patri-otic fervour and excitement give wayto unimagined suffering and loss.

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Sydney Powells adventures in Natal

20


the story of William Powell, architectof the Colonial Building in Pieterma-ritzburg.2

Sydney Powell was born in Londonin 1878 and came to Durban in 1892.Two years previously his father, Wil-liam Powell, had arrived in the cityto start a new life after his role as co-respondent in a much-publicised di-

vorce case ruined his reputation andended his successful career as an ar-chitect in London.

Sydney Powell, who died in 1952,wrote several novels and two memoir-cum-travel books, and it is in the 1986reissue of one of the latter, Adventur-

ers of a Wanderer, that his nephew,Geoffrey Powell, recording that hisuncle contributed to a Durban paperadds that he also wrote the rst guide-

book to Durban.3

Powell himself does not lay claimto the guide-books authorship eitherin Adventures of a Wanderer or theunpublished Each to His Taste. Butauthor of the guidebook or not, Pow-ells unpublished manuscript providesa fascinating glimpse of Durban and

Pietermaritzburg in the 1890s and therst decade of the twentieth century.I divide my youth into two periods,

the sacred and profane. Of the rst I

have not written and am not likely towrite, says Powell, writing in the late1920s.4In fact he would write of it inthe early 1940s in Each to His Taste.Here, as well as writing about his boy-

hood in England and the impact on hisfamily of his fathers affair, Powellalso recalls his youth in Durban whenthe Powell family lived in a house inRidge Road on the Berea and the teen-age Sydney attended Durban HighSchool.

On arrival in Durban in 1890 Powellsenior had set up an architectural prac-

tice in Durban, where he was joinedby his elder son, also named William.His wife Anne, together with Sydneyand his two younger brothers, Owenand Stewart, followed two years later.Another son, Norman, was later bornin Durban.

Max ORell in his bookJohn Bull and Co, speaks of Durban as the pret-tiest and most coquettish town in the South African Colonies, and few com-

pliments were surely ever better deserved. The epithet coquettish seemsexactly to express the peculiar charm of Durban, with the blue Indian Oceanwashing her feet, and a bay that might dispute the palm of beauty with theBay of Naples embracing her like a glorious arm, which no other town in thesouthern (or, for that matter, any) portion of this continent possesses.

Durban The Sea Port of the Garden Colony of South Africa, page 9

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Sydney recalls his arrival by seafrom England: Our ship could notcross the bar, so we lay out; and a tugcame to us, to convey the passengersashore. On its deck I saw my fatherand elder brother. We waved to them,my mother and I, and then I saw a lookof sudden anxiety come over his face.It became a look of anguish. He made

signs to us, and my mother and I in thesame moment glanced in the directionhe was pointing. Absorbed in greetinghim we had forgotten the two small

boys they, having also recognisedmy father, had climbed the rail, on a

rung of which they were dancing as ifthey would y to him. My mother and

I rushed up and pulled them down. 5

By the time they were joined onboard ship by his father and elderbrother all were in a more or lessexcited state which led to Powellmaking a dreadful faux pas. Whenmy father came aboard he kissed me,and then I kissed my eighteen-yearold brother! For a boy of fourteen todo such a thing in public! was in-

excusable, and he showed the deepestembarrassment. 6

The Powell family lived in a lowwhite bungalow with access to RidgeRoad on the top of a steep hill and onthe extreme edge of the Berea, the resi-dential hill suburb, and at the back ofour house was thick bush.7 Beyondthe bush Powell claimed the south-

ern ank of the Drakensberg could beseen8while the front of the house facedon to a garden with a view of the In-dian Ocean: Below us was a terracedgarden, and the whole place was bow-ered in bush and trees. I could see largeclumps of banana and bamboo.9

Among all the luxuriance of greenstuff and blossoms I was in heaven .

Everything charmed; not merely thehot sun, the caressing air and the sur-roundings, but the manner and mecha-nism of this new existence. Nor wasthere any disillusionment afterwards I throve mentally and physically. 10

Sydney Powell

Though the weather in summer is somewhat too warm to be quite agreeableto our English constitutions, at no time in of the year is the town unhealthy to

live in. During the winter months the climate is certainly as delightful asany in the world. Cloudless blue skies from weeks end to weeks end, withnow and then a shower of rain to relieve any possible monotony, cool breezesfrom the south-west, the fresh salt smell of the ocean, an equable tempera-ture day and night Durban, through these months has a climate that couldscarcely be excelled.


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Powell attended Durban HighSchool with my father and brother Iwalked of a morning to a bus terminus;and we took rst the bus and then a

tram for town. I brought my lunch withme and sometimes had it at my fathersofce [at 29 Field Street], which was a

large block that he had built. His repu-tation was growing.11

Back home on the Berea, Powellspent his time exploring the bush be-hind the house just for the fun of the

thing with a friend. Sometimes wewould put up a small buck, or have todeal with a snake. I became an expertin dealing with snakes, not only out ofdoors but indoors. Powell shared anoutside room with his older brotherand a nightly ritual was turning the

bedclothes down to the bottom tocheck there were no snakes. A stick

was kept in the room especially to dealwith any snakes that might be found.The snake that was not so easy todeal with was the one that stood upand disputed your path. If you had nostick it was best to retire, for nearlyevery snake was venomous. If you hadone, you had to strike quick and aimstraight. I was never afraid of snakes,

though always careful of them. Theybelonged to my new life and my newenvironment, and were looked on ac-cordingly. I found fault with nothing inmy new life. There was nothing I couldnd fault with.12

On one adventure the two venturedbeyond the bush at the rear of the

house. It did not go very far back, wefound, and beyond it we came to a dipwhere there was a settlement of Indianmarket-gardeners. One could not callit a village; it was no more than a col-lection of biscuit-tin huts. But for meit had one important feature: a long,narrow pond.13 The ideal place forPowell to sail the model yacht givento him several years earlier in England

by his father. However the rst attempt

to do so was partially frustrated by a

group of Indian boys on the far sideof the pond who, led by an older boy less a youth than a young man14threw stones at the boat and shoutedabuse at Powell and his friend. Whenthe yacht sailed to the other side of the

pond Powell was forced to cross a nar-row foot bridge over the water in orderto retrieve it. The bully advanced onto

the bridge towards him but when Pow-ell kept walking the other boy backeddown and Powell and his friend wereallowed to fetch their boat and sail itunmolested, both then and on subse-quent visits.

Another incident featured an Indiancook with a liking for Natal rum araw and powerful spirit, which should

never have been sold.15On one occasion there was a dis-

turbance at the servants quarters onenight, which my father went out andquelled. It appeared that the Indiangardener was at fault, though the cookwas more the drunker of the two. Myfather sacked the gardener. The gar-

To the overworked business man, grown sick with the eternal dust and tur-moil of the new Jerusalem that golden city of the Transvaal; to the sea-bornetraveller, whom a long voyage has wearied; to the dweller on veldt and farmand in up-country town, the sight of Durban must indeed (if the reader willexcuse a biblical parallel) impart a thrill similar to that experienced by thedesert-weary children of Israel on their entry into the land of Canaan.


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dener was a bachelor, the cook a mar-ried man. The cook was an excellentcook, clean, cheerful and respectful,and we did not want to lose him. Hecelebrating pay-day pretty regularly,

but carried his liquor not badly as arule.16

However one evening the rule wentto smithereens and the cook, insteadof staying and drinking at the grogshop, brought a bottle home. Aroundnine oclock he was shouting and

parading up and down at the back ofthe house. My father went to the backdoor, and told him to quieten down andgo to bed. I went too, and saw a shad-owy gure in the darkness. It moved

off, muttering.17

Five minutes later the cook returneduttering maniacal howls and beganto try and knock down the back door

with a coal-hammer. Within the Pow-ells demonstrated an almost absurdEnglish sang-froid: father Williamcontinuing to work at his drawing

board, the elder son doing somethingwith a specication, Sydney read-ing, and his mother reassuring the twoyounger boys in the drawing roomthat it was only Ramsammy, who had

too much to drink: he would be ill inthe morning, and it was very silly ofhim. 18

Thumps and howls succeeded eachother. The house reverberated; other-wise all was calm. I dont mean thatnobody was apprehensive; probablywe all were; but our parents had setthe tone, and the rest of us followed it My father had a revolver, but I canunderstand that he did not wish to useit, which he might have to do if he metthe man face to face.19

After a parental conference WilliamJr. was sent to the local police station.Meanwhile the performance contin-

ued though Sydney was more worriedabout his brother running into snakesin the dark. Finally, under my broth-ers guidance, the police arrived aEuropean constable and two nativesand following a brief set-to in whichone of the native police had a taste ofthe hammer. It was ended with a crackon the head from a knobkerrie. 20

Durban was also the setting for thetrials and tribulations of Sydney Pow-ells adolescence which brought him

into conict with his father, especiallywhen he reached the calf-love age.21The object of his infatuation was a girlwho went for music lessons to her auntwho lived next door to the Powells. Iloved her passionately. There was notthe smallest danger of any complica-tions arising, but my father assumedthat there was. It was a not unnatural

assumption in a grown-up man, as theclimate of Durban favoured sexual pre-cocity. I was not quite fteen and she

thirteen, and girls no older did some-times nd themselves in trouble. 22

When his father, informed by hiswife of the romance, took Sydneyaside for a talk and raised his concernsof where matters might lead Sydney

was shocked at the suggestion that Icould soil my love in such a way. 23His father ordered him to end the as-sociation; he didnt, though he becamemore discreet. It was our rst serious

disagreement, and it stuck like a thornin my mind.24

Nothing came of the romance. Itended, as such affairs must end, soon-er or later, when the res of idealistic

passion die down and there is nothingto replace them.25

Round about this period I had an-other love affair. There were no meet-ings, no love passages. I fell in lovewith a boy.26A fellow pupil at DHS,

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whom Sydney worshipped from afar.Indeed, the only time the two actuallymet outside school they simply nod-ded and passed on. The adult Powellrecorded that it was an infatuation,which I knew was a very odd one, butwhich I did not attempt to check or ar-gue with. It, too, in time died down.

For Powell these two incidents rep-resented the rst landmarks of my ad-olescence. I was passing through a beltof strange country which lay between

me and youth.

27

In 1894, at the age of 16, Powell in-tended becoming an architect like hisfather, with whom, having reachedthe difcult stage , he was now hav-ing frequent disagreements.28 Butwhen the time came for him to be arti-cled my father told me that he fearedwe were too much alike in character

by which he meant too self-willed,I think to pull together in the sameofce. He would article me, he said, to

another man. 29

THE BEREA

Once there the pleasure-seeking visitor will nd broad macadamised roads

bordered by trees and owering hedges, charming residences and well-kept

gardens.The Musgrave Road, especially, where are to be found the dwellings of

most of Durbans aristocracy, is a paragon of well-groomed comeliness.Soft green masses of foliage form a subdued and soothing background to the

brilliant hues of owering shrub and creeper which dazzle the eyes on eitherhand, and exquisite glimpses of the sea are caught here and there throughthe trees and at cross-roads. The Berea is a district ever fruitful of surprises,and an intimate acquaintance of many years only increases ones admirationfor the unique and wonderful loveliness of these wooded hills. Go where wemay new beauties display themselves to our eyes at every turn, nature andart, those two so often opposing forces, being here most happily wedded. Thedistinctive note of the scenery is richness of colour, the soft and varied greensof the foliage in contrast with the red ochre hue of those roads which still

remain unmetalled being especially striking. An artist might indeed spend alife-time among the nooks and bye-ways of this leafy region and yet not ex-haust one tithe of its treasury. Were the Berea in Europe instead of Africa,a school of painters such as made famous the Forest of Fontainebleau musthave assuredly settled in its midst. Seated on a wayside bank in one of the less

populated parts, with a red patch of road and some great at crowned tree for a

foreground, swelling thickly-wooded slopes in the middle distance, a glimpseof the Indian Ocean stretching far away, and the bluest of blue skies over all,the most unimpressionable of mortals could scarcely fail to be impressed bythe idyllic beauty of the scene. No description can do justice to the lovelinessof these suburban hills. A cheap and withal very comfortable way of makinga circuit of the Berea is by tram. Starting from the Town Hall, and alightingat the Musgrave Road terminus, a ten minutes walk brings one to MarriottRoad, where a Florida Road car may be boarded, and so back to town; theentire journey being accomplished at the small cost of one shilling.

Durban The Sea Port of the Garden Colony of South Africa, page 44.

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But Powell refused to be articled toanother architect: This was not fromlial affection though I had much

affection for my father but becauseI knew that as an architect he had noequal in South Africa.30

Powell then decided to try for anexhibition to gain entrance to OxfordUniversity, but this came to noughtas over some trie I set my back up

against the headmaster. He told myfather that things had reached such a

pass that he could not have me underhim any longer.31This coincided with a period in

which Sydney was having violentquarrels with his father, on one occa-sion walking out of the house sayingI would get a job in a shop and nevercome back. 32

During this time of emotional up-

heaval Powell had begun writing, bothprose and poetry. His father was soproud of a sonnet by his son publishedin the London magazine, Temple Bar,that he had copies of it printed for hisfriends at the Durban Club. It was ahappy incident, says Powell, andI cant remember that we ever quar-relled afterwards.

Despite that, the vision of Oxfordwas gone. I had just left the school,where the headmaster, for good rea-sons, would not have me, and it wastoo late in the day to send me to an-other.33

Powells father then decided to puthis son into the Natal Civil Service. Itwas not a hard-worked one; the hourswere from nine till four, and it did notdo a great deal in them; it offered a ca-reer of sorts, and it was gentlemanly.My father knew something about it,for he was engaged in building the newColonial Ofces in Pietermaritzburg,

the capital and the father persuaded

the son that here was the very occu-pation in which to indulge my literarytendencies . In the Civil Service Ishould not only have the time but thesurplus energy to write.34

Powell read up for the Civil Ser-vice examination while his father ob-tained a promise from the PrincipalUnder-Secretary that if his son passedhe would be given an appointment inthe Colonial Secretarys ofce. Powell

obligingly passed third out of about

twenty and got the appointment. I wasjust eighteen.35

I found the Civil Service much aswe had judged it to be. With rare ex-ceptions, nobody overworked himself,and often four oclock was a releasefrom boredom the boredom of put-ting in time. It was overstaffed on prin-ciple, the principle being that if there

was a rush there should be plenty ofhands to deal with it. Once I had towork all night, but only once, and usu-ally I left the ofce on the stroke of

four. I can only speak with knowledgeof my own department, but I shouldsay that in the others it was much thesame. We took a pride in being leisure-ly; it was our cachet. It distinguished

us from bank clerks, business peopleand others of the common herd.36

Meanwhile Powell wrote by ts

and starts37and enjoyed the gaietiesof Pietermaritzburg, but there was anot too subtle difference between themand the gaieties of Durban, which wereless socially hidebound and more cos-mopolitan.38Nevertheless he winedand wenched like other young menand with an older friend went walkingand riding. I got into plenty of mis-chief when I was not with him, but hekept me out of plenty more.39

Powell also continued writing, occa-sionally selling his literary efforts lo-

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cally or in other parts of South Africa,but I failed in further attempts on theEnglish magazines.40He presumablyalso found the time to write the Durbanguide book.

But writing was not my chief inter-est; life itself was that: and I alreadylonged to explore it more fully than Icould do here. Life in the Civil Ser-vice began to chafe but I saw no es-cape unless I simply walked out ofit. But I was not prepared to do that

yet.

41

The advent of the Anglo-Boer War in1899 provided the opportunity. Herewas a chance of breaking through myconnes, if I could nd a way of uti-lising it. I belonged to no permanentvolunteer corps, and could not nowhave joined one, with any hope of get-ting away yet; but I knew a man in the

Public Works Department who hadbeen granted leave to organise an In-dian ambulance corps, and he wantedleaders for it. He said he would takeme if I could get leave. I applied for itand got it.42

Powell served in the campaign torelieve the siege of Ladysmith. I sawthe ghting in Natal (but) it would

be wrong to say I took part in it. Be-longing to an ambulance corps I couldnot, but I found plenty of opportunitiesfor observation, and I got some experi-ence out of it.44

This period of Powells life is alsorecorded inAdventures of a Wandererwhere he recalls that an Indian am-

bulance corps that wanted leaders wasmy means of going to the front, and init I made the acquaintance of a young

barrister whom I chiey remember on

account of his devotion to duty and hisloving care for his men. His name wasGandhi.44

In Each to His Taste Powell addsslightly more detail regarding his briefencounter with one of the most famousnames of the twentieth century: The

poorly nourished Indian bearers suf-fered greatly but a young Indian barris-ter pulled them through. He was one of

our leaders, and he took my attention atonce by his gentle, bright manner, hisaliveness, and his complete unselsh-ness. His name was Gandhi. I met himafterwards in Durban, and believe itor not we had a drink together. In a

public bar. What he drank I dont re-member, but I drank a whisky.45

When Ladysmith was relieved, the

ambulance corps was disbanded. Ihad seen battles and retreats. We hadsome heavy work to do after Spionkop:a carry of twenty-ve miles. I had seen

things that surprised me: British ofc-ers losing their heads and their tem-

pers; British soldiers broken up with

Sydney Powell in uniform

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fright, who had run miles from the r-ing-line. I saw one sitting by the road-side who had thrown away his rie and

equipment. One of us, an old Irish sol-dier, gave him a tongue lashing, but hewas too abject to be affected by it. AndI saw what pained me, middle-agedReservists, so soft that, unused to theheat, they could not march. They werewretched with the feeling that they haddisgraced themselves, but the disgrace,I thought, was not at their door.46

Powell returned to Pietermaritzburgand his job and for a while resumedthe life I had dropped. But I had hada taste of what I wanted, and I wantedmore.47

As it happened there were no sta-bilising inuences that might have

counteracted this48. Powells formerfriend had left town and his father was

in poor health. He died on 7 June 1900at the age of 50. Work on the ColonialBuilding continued under the directionof William Jr. and was completed in1901.49

William Powells widow, Anne, re-turned to England [she] had neverliked Natal50 taking the youngerchildren with her. That left my elder

brother only, and he and I had neverhad much in common.51

Powell grew increasingly restless.Even his writing outlets were curtailed

when the premises of a Durban news-paper for which he had been writing adaily letter was destroyed by re, thus

bringing this work to an end.52

Bored and frustrated, the 23-year-old Powell resigned from the Civil Ser-vice and joined a mounted irregularcorps53in Durban in late 1900. Alas,despite his ability to ride and shoot, hewas given a post in the recruiting of-ce thanks to his civil service experi-ence. Three months into the six-month

enlistment period he felt I could notspend another three months here, and Imade up my mind to desert.54

And so, very early one morning,Powell dressed in his civilian clothesand left. When a tent mate woke upand asked him where he was goinghe responded that he was taking aday off. I had once before been absent

without leave, so he probably thoughtno more about it.55

Powells plan was to walk to EastLondon, through East Griqualand andBritish Kaffraria, a nice little tramp offour hundred miles. Once in the CapeColony he intended to re-enlist. In themeantime he would keep out of theway for a little while putting in time

in Kokstad and Umtata while this af-fair blew over.56

That he had little money merelyadded sauce to the adventure. I meant

THE BLUFF

Few more pleasant spots, indeed, are to be found in the neighbourhood ofDurban in which to loiter away a few hours or even an entire day. At the BluffRetreat one may make ones repast in a cool arbour with a roof of boughs,and the blue waters of the Bay before ones eyes. From this hostelry to thesummit of the Bluff is an easy climb of some ten minutes duration. A batteryof two guns of modern construction pointing seawards from the summit areof some interest even to a civilian, and must impress fairly emphatically uponhis mind the fact that Durban would not be wholly at the mercy of any foreigninvader who might pay these coasts a visit.

Durban The Sea Port of the Garden Colony of South Africa, page 46.

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to pick up a job of some sort in Kok-stad, and do the same in Umtata. Jobswere not hard to get anywhere in SouthAfrica. If a man starved it was his ownfault.57

By the time he had covered 120 ofthe 150 miles to Kokstad Powell wason a bread-and-water diet. When rainthreatened he took shelter in a barn butthe farmer kindly allowed him to sleepin the farmhouse, fed him up the fol-lowing day and gave him a sovereign

to send him on his way.Two days later and within ten milesof Kokstad Powell was overtaken bya mounted Natal Police sergeant. Washe being followed, he wondered? Theytalked for a while, the sergeant slowinghis horse to walking pace, before rid-ing on after bidding Powell a friendlyfarewell, saying that he expected to see

me in Kokstad.58

The two met again at a hotel in Kok-stad. When Powell indicated he wasinterested in joining the town guardstationed at the Cape Mounted Rie

camp on the hill the sergeant told himthere were Boer commandos in thearea. Accordingly, the next day, Pow-ell enrolled under a false name happily

anticipating a scrap sooner or later.59Powell met the police sergeant

whose station was on the border on several occasions afterwards. 60On one of them the sergeant revealedhe knew his real identity and had rec-ognised him when they rst met if

I hadnt known all about you, I shouldhave pinched you or seen that youwere pinched in Kokstad. 61

The sergeant had recognised Pow-ell because of his likeness to his elder

brother whom he had met at horse racemeetings my brothers passion wasracing and had been informed ofPowells desertion. Id had word of

you as a deserter and there you were.I had two minds what to do about it,

but I said no. Your brothers not a badsort, is he?62

Powell told him the reason whyhe had deserted and the sergeant wassympathetic indicating that he would

be safe in the Town Guard under anassumed name. However the scrap thesergeant promised never materialised.There were Boer commandoes [sic]about, but the mounted troops were

keeping them at a distance.

63

Powell spent ve months in Kokstad

which he found a pretty little place,anything but stagnant under its quietsurface, and I lived pleasantly enoughhere, gaily even. The climate was per-fection, the air sparkling.64

When the Boers were no longer con-sidered a threat the Town Guard was

disbanded and Powell was discharged.After saying goodbye to friends Pow-ell set out to walk to Umtata a

journey of a hundred miles throughnative territory.65

There were no farms, and waysidestores were few. I bought what I want-ed at the stores and wasted no time,for I had to get through this country as

quickly as possible.66He found the local people unfriend-

ly, refusing to sell him even a drinkof kafr [sic] beer. A new experiencefor Powell, as previously he had foundthe native hospitable and forthcomingwherever I had met him; but these peo-

ple were utterly aloof.67

Not so their dogs. From the mo-ment I entered the territory until I leftit, they took an intense and unpleasantinterest in me. From every kraal theyrushed out as soon as I was sighted.They came in packs, big black mon-grels, barking furiously. At rst they

alarmed me considerably, especially as

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According to Powells nephew,Geoffrey, with a small legacy they

bought an isolated cottage in the BlueMountains of New South Wales, wheretheir nearest neighbours were NormanLindsay, the artist and writer, and hiswife.78 The two men both in theirway recluses, became intimate friendsalthough they could quarrel ercely,

usually on literary questions. LikeLindsay, Powell easily took offence.79

Powell began working on a literary

novel and an impressed Lindsay rec-ommended he send the manuscript toa London publisher where, says hisnephew, it was accepted with enthu-siasm. A literary career beckoned, andEngland seemed the only place to de-velop it. In 1925, he and his wife soldup and left, a decision Powell was toquery until the end of his days.80

In England Powell and his wifeled a migratory existence mov-ing from cottage to cottage, some-times around Salisbury, sometimes inBournemouth. Powell did reviewingwork for the Times Literary Supple-mentand wrote novels, most of whichhad as their background either theSouth Seas or contemporary Eng-

land81. For three or four years Powellwrote leading articles and reviews for

Poetry Review, but something wentamiss, and he severed his connectionone day in a rage.82

According to his nephew, Pow-ells life drifted gently towards itsend. Happy enough in the societyof his wife, he could blossom whenany member of his family broke intohis seclusion. Otherwise his pen washis outlet . He died in 1952, a fewmonths after losing his wife.83

ENDNOTES

1 Durban The Sea Port of the Garden Colonyof South Africa, published by P.Davis & Sons,Pietermaritzburg and Durban, 1899.

2 The story of William Powell is told in Atale of two phoenixes: The Colonial Buildingand its architect William Powell by StephenCoan, Natalia 42, pp.33-44. A photocopyof a section of the unpublished manuscriptof Each To His Taste An Autobiography

by Sydney Powell was sent to the author in2003 by Geoffrey Powell, Sydney Powellsnephew, and provided the basis for the articleA Victorian Affair published in The Witnesson 29 July 2004 of which theNataliaarticle

was a revised and enlarged version. Theoriginal manuscript, as well as books andother material relating to Sydney Powell, wasdonated to the National Library of Australia in2003 by Geoffrey Powell where they are heldas Papers of Sydney Powell, Bid ID 3646265.

Each To His Taste is thought to have beenwritten about 1942 and is a sequel to the earlier

Adventures of a Wandererpublished in 1928.3 Sydney Walter Powell, Adventures of a

Wanderer, Century Hutchinson, 1986, p.x.The book was rst published by Jonathan

Cape in 1928. The 1986 reprint published inThe Century Travellers series is introduced

by Powel ls nephew Geoffrey Powel l.This quotation is from Geoffrey Powellsintroduction to the 1986 edition published

by Hutchinson, p.x. Geoffrey Powell (1914-2005), soldier, author and historian, wasthe only child of Owen Powell, the son ofthe architect William Powell, and his wifeKitty. During World War Two while servingwith the 1st Airborne Division he took partin the battle of Arnhem in September 1944where he won a Military Cross. After thewar Powell served in Java, Malaya, Kenyaand Cyprus. He transferred to the CivilService and for 12 years worked for MI5,on security policy and counter-espionage.On leaving MI5 in 1977, he founded theCampden Bookshop in Chipping Campden

and also helped to establish the Campden andDistrict Archaeological and History Society.Among his books are The Kandyan Wars:The

British Conquest of Ceylon (1973), Men atArnhem (1976) and Suez: The Double War

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(in collaboration with Roy Fullick)(1979);Plumer: The Soldiers General (1990) andBuller: A Scapegoat? (1994).

4 Adventures of a Wanderer, p.21.5 Ibid.,p.21.6 Ibid.7 Ibid., p.23.8 Ibid., p.41.9 Ibid., p.22.10 Ibid., pp.21-22.11 Ibid., p.23.12 Ibid., pp.23-24.13 Ibid., p.32.14 Ibid., p.34.15 Ibid., pp.27-28.

16 Ibid., p.28.17 Ibid.18 Ibid., p.29.19 Ibid., p.30.20 Ibid., p.31.21 Ibid., p.24.22 Ibid., p.25.23 Ibid., p.25.24 Ibid., p.26.25 Ibid., p.26.

26 Ibid., p.26.27 Ibid., p.27.28 Ibid., p.35.29 Ibid., p.36.30 Ibid.31 Ibid.32 Ibid., p.37.33 Ibid.34 Ibid., p.38.35 Ibid., p,39.36 Ibid., p.39.

37 Ibid., p.40.38 Ibid., p.40.39 Ibid., pp.40-41.40 Ibid., p.41.41 Ibid., p.41.42 Ibid., pp.49-50. Colonel T. Gallwey, principal

medical ofcer of Natal, who instituted the

Natal Volunteer Ambulance Corps (NVAC).At the same time Indian lawyer MohandasGandhi raised an Indian Ambulance Corps

that was incorporated into the NVAC.44 Ibid., p. 50.44 Adventures of a Wanderer, p.18.45 Each to His Taste, pp.51-52.46 Ibid., p.51.

47 Ibid.48 Ibid., pp.51-52.49 In Durban William Powell senior designed a

building at Durban Boys High School and thepublic swimming pool, both since demolished,and the dining room of the Durban Club. InPietermaritzburg he designed the VictoriaHall at Maritzburg College and the recentlyrestored Colonial Building in Church Street.He also designed St James Anglican Churchin Dundee.

50 Ibid., p.52.51 Ibid. Sydneys elder brother, William, returned

to England a few years later.52 Ibid.

53 Ibid., p.52.54 Ibid., p.53.55 Ibid., p.54.56 Ibid., p.54.57 Ibid.58 Ibid., p.58.59 Ibid.60 Ibid.61 Ibid., p.59.62 Ibid.

63 Ibid., p.60.64 Ibid.65 Ibid., pp.60-61.66 Ibid., p.60.67 Ibid.68 Ibid.69 Ibid., p.62.70 Adventures of a Wanderer, p.17.71 Each to His Taste, p.69.72 Ibid.,p.75.73 Ibid.

74 Ibid., p.76.75 Powell also wrote poetry but had difculty

getting it into print. Despairing of his workever being published, in 1932 he entered hisepic poem Gallipoli for a festival or poetsunder forty years of age which John Maseeld,

the Poet Laureate, was organising. Awardedthe prize, Powell well over the age limit,then 54, admitted to the deception by returnof post and gave back the prize cheque of

25. Maseeld was understandably annoyed,but the ruse succeeded. The following yearthe Poetry Reviewpublished the poem, andin 1934 Harrap brought out a collection ofPowells poetical work, One Way Street.

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Introduction toAdventures of a Wanderer, byGeoffrey Powell, p.x. The poem is reprinted inthe 1986 edition. John Maseeld (1878-1967)

served as a Red Cross orderly towards the endof the Gallipoli campaign.

76 Ibid., p.ix.77 These books, published by the N.S.W.

Bookstall Co., Sydney, included The Makerof Pearls(1920),Hermit Island (1921); TheGreat Jade Seal(1922); The Pearls of CheongTah(1922) and The Trader of Kameko(1923).

78 Norman Lindsay (1879-1969), majorAustralian artist, sculptor and writer.

79 Adventures of a Wanderer, p.ix.80 Ibid., p.x. The literary novel that impressed

Lindsay was probably Tetua: A Tale in FiveParts, Constable, London, 1926.

81 Ibid. A list of works by Powell can be found athttp://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/3646265.

82 Ibid., pp.x-xi.83 Ibid., p.xi.

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33Natalia 44 (2014), Duncan Du Bois pp. 22 47


T HE name Umzinto derives fromthe Zulu Umuziwe Zinto thehome of things or events.1Patrick J. Maxwell and his wife were

probably the rst settlers in the Umzinto

district in 1849, growing coffee andcotton.2However, Bunting Johnstonesresidence in the district may have pre-dated that of the Maxwells. In 1861 heclaimed to have been living in whatwas generally called Lower uMkomazifor thirteen years.3 As a settlement,Umzinto was little more than a hamletuntil the 1880s. When he made his

second tour of the South Coast in1870,Mercuryeditor, John Robinson,described Umzinto as a cluster ofhomesteads within gunshot of eachother which gave the impression ofa township.4Nonetheless, it was thechief area of settlement in what from1865 was called Alexandra County.

Umzinto sprang into prominencein 1857 as a result of two apparentlyunrelated developments. One was thedecision to open up the area southof the uMkomazi river by invitingapplications for grants of Crown land.The other concerned the establishmentof the rst public company to operate

in Natal, namely, the Umzinto SugarCompany.5

Crown land applications

In 1853 the Mercury remarked in aneditorial on the need for a scheme for

throwing open the unoccupied Crownlands in the Lower uMkomazi district.6In 1856 the Resident Magistrate,Henry Francis Fynn, urged that sucha policy be embraced, particularly ashe desired what his colleagues in othercounties enjoyed: a central ofce and

A sketch of colonial Umzinto

by Duncan Du Bois

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a house. The absence of settlers there were only three, namely BuntingJohnstone, John Higham and JohnMcKenzie obliged Fynn to locatemyself with a wagon central to the fewEuropeans occupying the south bankof the Umkomaas.7

Following the election of the rst

Legislative Council in March 1857, acommittee was appointed to promotesettlement of the coastal counties bymeans of Crown land grants. Although

the idea was to attract Britishimmigrants, dissatisfaction with theexisting Byrne grants and news of thesuccess of sugar on the coastal belt

prompted many to take their chancesand make a fresh start.8Within a yearFynns sparsely populated worldchanged dramatically. There wasa spate of applications for Crown

land grants south of the uMkomaziriver. Robert Mann, in his book TheColony of Natal, stated that by 1859the number of colonists had grownto 93.9 As a result, Fynn informedthe Colonial Secretary that he would

be purchasing land and building ahouse near Umzinto as the mostcentral locality in the division for his

magistracy.10Two other developmentsindicated that ofcialdom endorsed

Umzinto as the node for development:the estimates for 1858 indicated that10 was allocated to a post ofce

in Umzinto. This was followed byofcial sanction for the establishment

of a cattle pound.11 The Supply Billfor 1859 reected a sum of 50 for a

school in the Umzinto district.12Fynnalso had additional support. A Justiceof the Peace, James Arbuthnot, was

appointed in November 1858.

13

Afterseven years in the Richmond area,Arbuthnot took up a 600-acre granton the north bank of the Mzinto riverwhich he named Umzinto Lodge.14The rst social gathering to take place

in Umzinto was a farewell publicdinner hosted for Fynn in March1860 to mark his retirement from the

civil service. No details were statedin the Mercuryreport as to where thefunction was held or the attendance.15

Umzinto Sugar Company

When it was formed in 1857, thecompanys directors were all basedin Cape Town. According to its

prospectus, the company had a capital

Umzinto Sugar Estate the steam train (photograph courtesy of theNatalAgricultural Journal)

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stock of 30 000.16In terms of its Deedof Grant, Alexandra Farms, as it wasregistered, was granted 9 000 acres inthe Umzinto area. Its plan was to leasethose lands for cane growing and tocrush the harvest at a central mill.17In1858, Umzinto became the rst place

in Natal to employ oriental labourerswhen a group of Malays and Chinesearrived to work on the sugar estate.18But their stay was short-lived. Workingfor 10 shillings a month did not appeal

to their hopes for a quick fortune.

19

Despite the loss of their mechanicalexpertise, the sugar factory, as it wascalled, started operating in March1860, producing sugar yields which,it was claimed, were unrivalled inthe Colony. By 1861 the companyhad 150 acres under cane, of which100 acres were ready for crushing.20

Following his tour of the South Coastin 1861,Mercuryeditor John Robinson

described the factory as the biggestbuilding in the Colony. With walls20 feet high, an iron roof spanned the150 feet length of the building whichhoused machinery whirling aroundat the rate of innumerable miles perminute and emitting a deafeninguproar.21

The sugar enterprise also initiatedthe arrival of indentured Indianlabour. Within weeks of the arrivalof the rst of these labourers in Natal

in November 1860, the UmzintoSugar Company was assigned 30indentured Indians.22 Robinson notedthat indentured Indians were alsoemployed by Captain James Greethamand John Pearse of the Umzinto area,who had modest 30-acre cane elds.23

Early in 1862 the Acting ResidentMagistrate, R.B. Struthers, reported

the rst incident of suicide by an Indianlabourer. Bootoo hanged himself on

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an estate in Umzinto. According toStruthers, the incompetence of theIndian interpreter made it impossibleto record intelligible depositions fromBootoos fellow labourers.24Referenceto the incidence of suicide amongstindentured labourers in the Umzintoarea, which reached critical levels inthe last 20 years of the colonial era, ismade later.

Travel and transport

From Reunion to Port Shepstonethe South Coast is traversed by 26rivers. From the outset, settlementand development of the region washampered by the absence of bridgesand proper roads. As early as 1860an editorial in the Mercury notedthat no part of Natal is so much inneed of passable roads as the district

about the Umzinto. Concern atthis state of affairs resulted in therst public meeting in the Umzinto

district. Chaired by James Arbuthnotof Umzinto Lodge, it was noted thatthe cost of transport from Durbanto Umzinto was three times moreexpensive than transport from Durbanto Pietermaritzburg, even though thedistances were similar.25But 37 yearswould pass before the arrival of therailway at Park Rynie, some six milesfrom Umzinto, solved the areas traveland transport dilemma.

Untamed environs

Along the sparsely settled South Coast

game, particularly buck, were stillplentiful in the 1860s. Shooting for thepot was part of the lifestyle. CharlesHamilton, who travelled extensivelyaround Natal in the 1860s, noted thatat one planters estate in the Ifafaarea, probably that of William Joyner,

supplying the household with meat byshooting game was a full-time job fortwo of the planter

Natalia No 44 (2014)

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