A Period of Transition
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A PERIOD OF TRANSITION P. HISTORY OF GRAHAMSTOWN 1902-1918 A thesis for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS by Nicholas Derek Southey The writer wishes to express his gratitude to the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Trust for a Scholarship for 1820 Settler and Eastern Cape History. The financial assistance of the Human Sciences Research Council is also acknowledged. Opinions expressed and conclusions reached are those of the author and are entirely independent of both these organizations. RHODES UNIVERSITY GR AHAMSTOWN 1984 ii T ABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE FOOTNOTES iv PREFACE v CHAPTER 1 Municipal Status: A Changing Framework 1 CHAPTER 2 Commercial and Economic Decline 33 CHAPTER 3 Municipal Finance 87 CHAPTER 4 Public Works 113 CHAPTER 5 Sanitation and Public Health 145 CHAPTER 6 Black Grahamstown: "A Dis~race to Civilization" 187 CHAPTER 7 Politics in Flux 257 CHAPTER 8 Conclusion 324 APPENDICES A Population of Grahamstown 1891-1921 352 B Mayors of Grahamstown 1901-1919 354 C Grahamstown Representatives in Parliament 1904-1918 360 D Manifesto of the Eastern Province Association 363 E Some Specimens of Earnings: salaries of artisans and 365 unskilled employees in Grahamstown (1915) F Two verses to commemorate the centenary of Grahamstown in 367 1912 G Map based on Plan of the City of Grahamstown, by Ernest 371a Grubb, City Engineer, Grahamstown, January 1909. BIBLIOGRAPHY 372 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to the many people who, by the assistance they have given me, have enabled the completion of this thesis. Cory Librarians, Mr Michael Berning and Mrs Sandra Fold, assisted by Dr Mandy Goedhals, Mr Jackson Vena and Mrs Sally Poole, were at all times unstinting with their time, advice and concern, and am grateful to them for making the Cory Library such a pleasant place in which to research. The staff of the Rhodes University Library and the Albany Museum in Grahamstown, and of the Cape Archives Depot and the South African Public Library in Cape Town were most helpful. The Library of Parliament in Cape Town, the Central Archives Depot in Pretoria, and the National Archives of Zimbabwe in Harare, responded efficiently to written requests for material. Dr Chris Hummel and Mr Eric Haines of the Rhodes University History Department have given me much support and useful advice. have received much practical criticism and assistance from Mandy Goedhals, Jane Garner and Rose-Mary Sellick; Miss Sellick in particular has provided invaluable aid with the compilation of the bibliography and with the correction of errors. Mr Oakley West of the Rhodes University Cartographic Unit adapted the map. Mr and Mrs Julian Adler of Cape Town kindly provided me with accommodation for six weeks while I undertook research in that city. My typist, Mrs Jill Weldon, undertook her task at late notice, and am grateful for her tolerance and great efficiency. To many friends, both inside and outside of Grahamstown, I am grateful for support, patience and understanding. My parents have given encouragement and assistance in innumerable ways, and for the criticism, guidance and concern of my supervisor, Professor Keith Hunt, I am most grateful. IV LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE FOOTNOTES AM Albany Museum,Grahamstown AYB Archives Year Book BWCMB Board of Works and Lands Committee Minute Books CA Cape Archives Dept, Queen Victoria Street, Cape Town CL Cory Library for Historical Research, Rhodes University, Cape Town CMB Council Minute Books CPP Cape Parliamentary Papers DSAB Dictionary of South African Biography FCMB Finance Committee Minute Books GDM Grocott's Daily Mail GPM Grocott's Penny Mail GTJ The Grahamstown Journal HCMB Health Committee Minute Books ICS, CSP University of London Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Collected Seminar Papers JAH Journal of African History LO Local Opinion MCMB Market Committee Minute Books. This abbreviation is use d for the Market, Pound, Police and Sanitary Committee, which had diverse responsibilities. R Sellick, R Sellick, A Study in Local History: Grahamstown 1883- Grahamstown 1904-, M.A. thesis in the course of preparation at 1883-1904- Rhodes University SCMB Special Committee Minute Books SESA Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa SIC Special Investigation Committee WCMB Water Committee Minute Books (v) PREFACE This study of Grahamstown between the years 1902 and 1918 builds upon the foundations laid by three theses which examine the development of the city during the nineteenth century, all of which were completed at Rhodes University. K S Hunt's pioneering work1 describes the activites of the Municipal Commissioners in an expanding frontier town and, in using the example of Grahamstown, examines the inter-relationship of the local administration arId the central government. His thesis concludes with the achievement of full municipal status with its own Act of Incorporation in 1862. Melanie Gibbens2 has taken the story through to 1882, when the General Municipal Act was passed by the Cape Parliament. Her work emphasizes civic development; but in examining political and economic trends as well, she views the city as a typical Victorian colonial community. Rose-Mary Sellick3 has continued this theme in her thesis on Grahamstown between 1883 and 1904, and has drawn together political, economic and racial threads to understand the attitudes of the late Victorian city. Her thesis concludes with the foundation of Rhodes University College in 1904, which institution was to become an integral part of Grahamstown's twentieth century development. A Period of Transition : A History of Grahamstown 1902-1918 attempts to show that the trends begun in the nineteenth century were confirmed by developments in the first two decades of the twentieth century. In this period, Grahamstown was forced to abandon ideas of economic recovery and political importance, as it adapted to its role in the post-Union dispensation. The city has been firmly grounded in the wider environ ment, though comparison with towns of similar position and outlook has 1 K S Hunt, "The Development of Municipal Government in the Eastern Province of the Cape of Good Hope, with special reference to Grahams town 1827-1862", AYB, 1961. 2 M Gibbens, Two Decades in the Life of a City Grahamstown 1862-1882, unpubl. MA Thesis, Rhodes University, 1982. 3 R Sellick, Grahamstown 1883-1904 ( vi) been impossible because of a lack of source material.4 It is clearly evident that Grahamstown was under pressure from the macrocosm; nonetheless, local initiatives and developments also lent clarity to broader trends. This is particularly clear in the emerging pattern of racial segregation in the City, to cope with the economic and social problems posed by a burgeoning black population. The limited financial resources of a corporation the size of Grahamstown restricted its effectiveness to improve schemes of public works and public health, and further underlined the dependence of the city on the government for assistance. Grahamstown's transition was predominantly one of acceptance of a changed political, social and economic environment. The most valuable sources for this study were the newspapers. Both The Grahamstown Journal and Grocott's Penny Mail were published three times a week, on alternate days. Both published news of international, national and local interest, and the rivalry. between them often illuminated issues. In 1920, The Journal was absorbed by the Penny Mail, which was thereafter titled Grocott's Daily Mail. A third newspaper, Local Opinion, appeared once a week between August 1911 and December 1917. It was published by the printer, H J Sole, and attempted to focus on matters of local interest; it had limited circulation, however, and was therefore forced into liquidation. The newspapers cast much light on prevailing attitudes, and provided vital information. Municipal records and magisterial records of the Albany district were examined. The minute books of the city council and committees of the council, as well as cash, invoice, rate and letter books, surviving ledgers and journals all revealed much detail about the dealings of the municipality. Some committee minute books were missing: those of the market, pound, police and sanitary committee between 1904 and 1912, and those of the Board of -W:orks between 1907 and 1909. Reports of the location inspector between 1913 and 1915, and the Medical Officer of 4 An original introduction, which examined themes of local government and imperial history, has been omitted in the interests of reducing the length of this thesis. Much of the detail discussed in it can be found in M Gibbens, Grahamstown 1862-1882, Chapter 1, and R Sellick, Grahamstown 1883-1904, Chapter 1. ( vii) Health, were of particular value. Files of the Colonial Medical Officer of Health, the Attorney-General, the Treasurer-General and the Department of Lands housed at the Cape Archives Depot yielded some information. The files of the Superintendent-General of Education contain a vast amount of information appertaining to Grahamstown schools, much of which was collected; a detailed account of Grahamstown's educational i nst itut ions, however, merits a separate study. Voters' lists for the Grahamstown constituency before 1910 were particularly useful for purposes of identification of both white and black voters; attempts to trace voters' lists after 1910 proved unsuccessful. Endeavours to uncover constituency papers of Dr Jameson likewise did not bear fruit. Occasional' contemporary pamphlets contain useful information. The minute book of the Citizens' Union, and mayoral minutes for five of the years under review, housed in the Albany Museum, were of particular interest. Cape Government and Union census reports were consulted for social and demographic trends in Grahamstown. Cape Provincial gazettes contained adjustments to the municipal regulations. Official reports on Native Affairs and Rhodes University College were carefully researched. Where relevant, statute books and commission reports were examined. All the official government, municipal and printed sources together provide a great deal of information on the history of Grahamstown.