APPENDIX I.

The following discussion took place on the paper read by Sir Frederick
Young, on South Africa, at the opening meeting of the Session of the
Royal Colonial Institute, on November 12th, at which the Marquis of Lome
presided:--

PROFESSOR H.G. SEELEY: In common with you all, I have listened with
great pleasure to this interesting and wide-reaching address. I
have not myself been so far afield. My observations were limited to
Cape Colony; and the things which I saw in that Colony were
necessarily, to a large extent, different from those recorded by
Sir Frederick Young. On landing at Cape Town I naturally turned to
what the people of South Africa were doing for themselves, and
confess I was amazed when I saw the great docks, by means of which
the commerce of South Africa is being encouraged, and by which it
will hereafter be developed. I was impressed, too, with the
educational institutions, the great Public Library, worthy of any
town, the South African Museum, the South African College, and the
various efforts made to bring the newest and best knowledge home to
the people. But perhaps in Cape Town, the thing which impressed me
as most curious was the new dock, in process of construction by
excavating stone for the breakwater and other purposes. This work
was carried on by coloured convict labour. The convicts thus become
trained in useful manual work, as well as in habits of obedience,
and when they are discharged, are not only better men, but people
in whose work employers of labour have confidence. I learned that
the great public mountain roads in Cape Colony have thus been
constructed by convict labour, at a comparatively small cost, while
the convict acquires skill and useful training. Going up country,
my attention, among other matters, was turned to the distribution
of mineral wealth and difficulties of water supply, for, as Sir
Frederick Young has remarked, the water supply is one of the great
problems which all persons have to consider in South Africa. The
season during which rain falls is short, and the rain drains
rapidly down comparatively steep inclined surfaces, so that science
of many kinds has to be enlisted to conserve the water, and turn
the supply to account. I found the rocks of much of the country
have been curiously compressed