A HISTORY OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN TEXTILE INDUSTRY. THE PIONEERING PHASE, 1820 - 1948 by JAMES (PADDY) CAROL McDOWELL Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Commerce (Economic History) at the University of Natal, Durban December 2000 " DECLARATION I hereby declare Ihal this dissertation, except where explicitly stated to the contrary in the text, is entirely my own original work. JAMES (PADDY) CAROL McDOWELL iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge Professor Bill Freund the supervisor of th is thesis, being the person who introduced me, a mature student to the academic world. My sincere thanks are extended to him for his patience, unwavering support, guidance and interest in my work. My thanks and acknowledgement are extended to my wife Jenny, also for her support and patience during the period of thi s th esis, as well as being my cartographer producing the maps and graphs. Oth ers who were of great assistance were Professor Vishnu Padayachee and my friend Jeanne Hill of Cape Town. The enthusiasm of all those interviewed throughout South Africa and overseas stimulated and encou raged me and a specia l word of thanks is due to the immediate descendants of the families of the South African textile pioneers. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Mrs Norma Hatcher for her support and willingness in typing and preparing this document. iv ABSTRACT The aim of this thesis is to bring together scattered information about the South African textile industry in an endeavour to give its growth some semblance of order up to 1948. The thesis commences by looking at the early colonial period, from the arrival of the 1820 Settlers and the first mill they established. As wool and cotton are basic commodities in the textile industry, these are dealt with from the arrival of Jan van Riebeeck in 1652, as is the colonial economy. The development of the industry is tabled , in chronological order, from 1822 covering where mills were sited and their founders. Two chapters are devoted to the leading pioneers in the industry - Harris, Mauerberger, Beier and Frame. The position of trade unions and the role of the state in the industry are looked at, subsequently. The thesis concludes with an assessment of the industry up to 1948. The question is posed as to the future of the textile industry in the South African economy. v CONTENTS Page No INTRODUCTION 1 The period of the thesis 1820-1948 The purpose of the thesis The scope of the methodology The literature review Outl ine of the thesis CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF COLONIAL SOUTH 7 AFRICAN ECONOMY CHAPTER 2: THE SOUTH AFRICAN TEXTILE 41 INDUSTRY AND THE PARTICIPANTS FROM THE INCEPTION TO 1948 CHAPTER 3: PIONEERS OF THE INDUSTRY 85 3.1 Harris family 85 3.2 Mauerberger family 98 3.3 Beier family 109 CHAPTER 4 : PHILlP FRAME 115 CHAPTERS: TWO VITAL INGREDIENTS: LABOUR 141 AND THE STATE CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION 174 BIBLIOGRAPHY 189 ANNEXURES: 1. Waverley Blankets, 1957 Price List 198 2. Chronological order of mills 204 GLOSSARY 210 vi LIST OF TABLES Table Page INTRODUCTION 1. Union Population 1910 -1945 4 CHAPTER 1 1. Wool exported during Anglo-Boer War 13 2. Numerical population urban and rural 25 3. Comparison in earning s in Rand between secondary 32 industry as a whole and the blanket industry 4. Employment and net annual output in the textiles and 36 wearing apparel industry CHAPTER 2 1. The development of the blanket industry from 1933-1942 42 2. Value of imports as a percentage of va lue of total 74 consumption 3. The value of the Union material as a percentage of total 78 cost of materials CHAPTER 5 1. Number of employees in the blanket industry compared 14 2 with total of all trade union members (for registered and unregistered unions) covering the period 1933 to 1941 inclusive, for all race groups, on a national basis 2. The story in figures 144 CHAPTER 6 1. Total capital invested and profits earned in industry 183 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page CHAPTER 1 1. Sheep farming areas in South Africa 17 2. Woolwasheries from mid-1800s to 1948 18 3. Present day cotton production areas, ginning and 22 spinning 4 . Present day cotton growing areas 22 5. Secondary industry in South Africa 1915 - 1948, number 34 of establishments 6. Secondary industry in South Africa 1915 - 1948, salaries 35 and wages 7. Secondary industry in South Africa 1915 -1948, number 38 of workers 8. Secondary industry in South Africa 1915 -1948, material 39 cost and value of output 9. Growth of the population 1904 - 1967 40 CHAPTER 2 1. Bradshaw's mill, Bathurst 45 2. Agricultural hall, Howick 49 3. General arrangement of hydro-electric power station , 51 Howick 4 . Kantor and Davidowitz 55 5. The first Board and Founders of The Consolidated Textile 57 Mills Ltd, 1935 6. The textile pipeline 66 7. Value of imports of all types of blankets, rug s and kaffir 71 sheeting 8. Value and weight of imported sheeps' wool for blanket 72 manufacturing viii 9. Comparison between values of imports and local 73 manufacture of all types of blankets, rugs and kaffir sheeling 10. Value of cotton blankets, wool and woollen blankets, rugs 75 (shawls) and sheeling 11 . Quantity of cotton blankets, wool and woollen blankets, 77 rugs (shawls), and sheeting manufactured 12. Cost of materials used 79 13. Mill locations and dates of opening 84 CHAPTER 3 1. Woolf Harris 85 2. Waverley Wool Washing Establishment, Ceres Road 86 3. Waverley Blanket Mill, Ceres Road 86 4. The first factory of South African Woollen Mills Ltd at Salt 87 River 5. Waverl ey Mill, Mowbray, Cape Town 87 6. Maurice Mauerberger 98 7. o T H Beier 109 CHAPTER 4 1. Phi lip Frame J.P. 115 CHAPTER 5 1. Number of employees 149 2. Salaries and wages 149 3. Value and number of propositions accepted by IOC since 173 1940 1 INTRODUCTION The thesis will commence with the 1820 British seltlers who established the first mill, through t01948, with special emphasis on the period between 1875 and 1947/8. The years 1947/8 saw the beginning of a proper textile industry, when a range of fabrics, in addition to blankets was produced by various mills ,that came on-stream during this period. Taking into account that the total time frame is in excess of a hundred years the amount of original literature relevant to the industry in this period was somewhat limited. Fortunately major contemporary investigations carried out by the Board of Trade and Industry were available in University of Natal archives. The Board published report 290 on September 11, 1946 under the title "The South African Blanket Manufacturing Industry" and report 323 dated December 29, 1950 under the title "The Textile Manufacturing Industry". From the titles of these two reports it will be realised that the pre-World War 11 weaving industry was to all intents and purposes a blanket manufacturing industry and yet it was sufficiently large, and important to justify an investigation into it by the government. The Annual General Meetings minutes of The Industrial Development Corporation South Africa Limited covering the immediate post World War 11 meetings (see bibliography) were available from th e IOC library. The publication "Jewish Roots in the South African Economy", published in 1986 by Mendel Kaplan, contained a chapter on the Jewish pioneers in the textile industry which was most informative. There were also company publications by the Frame Group and the Beier Group which traced the history of these respective groups. The late Mrs Norris, the mother of John Norris, currently a director in the Frame Group, compiled her reminiscences on Frame. Furthermore, her late husband was a director in the group and a contemporary of Frame, which would indicate that her writings would have come from direct knowledge and were not dependent on hearsay. Writings by historians, economists, financial journalists and company archives were available from various sources. Information obtained from Neville Goltlieb on the Harris dynasty, coupled with an interview with Mrs Raphaely, the daughter of Woolf Harris, was of great value as was information provided by Mrs Estelle Yach, the daughter of Morris Mauerberger. 2 Certain direct descendants of the original pioneers were interviewed and yielded interesting and useful information. Furthermore senior personnel who worked in the industry in the post World War ]I era were also interviewed. (See bibliography) This was most definitely the pioneering stage of the textile industry, albeit predominantly a blanket manufacturing industry , and it is hoped that the trials and tribulations experienced by the early mill owners will be appreciated, as pioneers of the industry. They lived and worked in a fiercely competitive and unforgiving industry. In its formative years, and up to the commencement of World War 11 , the industry was of limited importance to the country, as agriculture and mining were the main contributors to the economy. During this period virtually no fabric was produced that was used by a reasonably sized clothing industry. Post World War II the industry had to compete with fabric imported by the wholesale merchants and clothing industry and it struggled to have its fabric accepted. It was eventually given protection by the government by way of substantial duties on imported fabric as well as import permits which not only controlled the value of imports but also the type of fabric that could be imported. In the economic climate of the year 2000, the industry has undergone a dramatic shift brought about by the post-apartheid government's attitude to free enterprise and the globalisation of the world economy.