anything could do to destroy all hope. It was a painful
exhibition, and the sordid details which came to light, the
unblushing attempts to levy blackmail on those who were threatened
with pillage by would-be concessionaires, the shameless conduct of
Raad members fighting as hirelings to impose a fresh burden on their
own country, sickened the overburdened community.

The Bewaarplaatsen question also excited much discussion, but was not
a subject of such close interest to the Uitlander community as
others, for the reason that but few companies were directly
concerned. Bewaarplaatsen is a name given to areas granted for the
purpose of conservation of water, for depositing residues of crushed
ore, etc.--in fact, they are grants of the surface rights of certain
areas at a lower rate of license than that paid upon claim or mineral
areas. This variation in the licensed areas was a wholly unnecessary
complication of the gold law, the difference in cost being
inconsiderable, and the difference in title affording untold
possibilities of lawsuits. In some cases companies had taken out
originally the more expensive claim-licenses for ground the surface
only of which it was intended to use. They had been compelled, by
order of the Government, to convert these claims at a later period
into bewaarplaatsen. They were almost invariably situated on the
south side of the Witwatersrand Main Reef, for the reason that, as
the ground sloped to the south, the water was found there, the mills
would naturally be erected there, and the inclination of the ground
offered tempting facilities for the disposal of residues. After some
years of development on the Main Reef it became clear that the
banket beds, which were known to dip towards the south, became
gradually flatter at the lower levels, and, consequently, it was
clear that bodies of reef would be accessible vertically from
areas south of the reef which had formerly been regarded as quite
worthless as gold-bearing claims. The companies which owned these
bewaarplaatsen now contended that they should be allowed to convert
them into claims, as, by their enterprise, they had exploited
the upper levels and revealed the conditions which made the
bewaarplaatsen valuable. The companies had endeavoured to convert
these bewaarplaatsen into claims when they first discovered that
there was a possibility of their becoming valuable, and that at a
time when the areas themselves were of extremely little mar