The Boers were anything but ‘simple farmers’

Part 40 in our series on William Hills

It was a source of regret to William Hills that his knowledge of Dutch was not sufficient to enable him to report the proceedings of the Volksraad (the parliament of the then South African Republic).

But, as the legislators sat in the same building and used the same lobbies, he was kept in close touch with what was happening and he wrote stories about his life as a journalist.

Hills wrote that, with the growth of the gold industry, a very undesirable type of person began to haunt the lobbies on the lookout for concessions and other favours.

“We had a shrewd idea of what they hoped to get by the aid of the ‘simple Boer farmers’ who had seats in the legislature.

“I use the phrase ‘simple Boer farmers’ because every self-respecting London paper always used the term. They laboured under the impression that a Boer farmer could not be anything else but ‘simple’ and prey to smart men than himself.

“I concluded that ‘simple’ was the very last word which ought to be used in this connection. The biter, as often as not, was ‘bit’.”

Hills said that it was at about this time that some members began to get anxious about the number of ‘uitlanders’ who were pouring in.

“They feared they would swamp the ‘burghers’ and after much cogitation, a proposal was introduced to give special bonuses for large families to encourage the ‘burghers’ to increase the population.”

As far as he could see, such a stimulus was hardly necessary for early marriages were the rule, but the idea “proved very popular”.

However, the measure was redrafted, providing ‘rewards for all sons over 12 in number’.

“In its new form, it was not favoured and was withdrawn. Thus, the Transvaal was saved from a stork marathon.”

To show the widespread interest in the proposal, Hills said an article he wrote on the topic was accepted and published by the London Daily Mail.

“It indicated that race suicide was not really to be feared in the Transvaal.” (Article: Carol Stier).

Next time: Hills moonlights as a chicken farmer

ALSO READ: Part 26 in our series on William Hills: Hills returns to ‘civilisation’ in Pretoria

ALSO READ: Part 26 in our series on William Hills: Hills returns to ‘civilisation’ in Pretoria