Abstract
THE rapid development of South Africa was outlined by Lord Riverdale of Sheffield, speaking on January 23, under the auspices of the British Empire League, at the British Empire Club. His main subject was the Empire Exhibition which is to be opened in Johannesburg on September 15. Last year marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Union of South Africa; between 1910 and 1935 the European population increased by more than fifty per cent and the native population by more than forty per cent. These important years have seen a tremendous increase in agricultural products and mineral development. Conspicuous progress has been made in the fruit industry, the value of exports of fresh fruit having risen from an average of £15,000 a year in pre-War years to £2,270,000 in 1934. In recent years rapid industrial development has also taken place. As an export market for United Kingdom goods, South Africa ranks second only to British India, and in 1934 took goods to the value of some £32,000,000. The imports into the Union for the first six months of 1935 showed an increase of £5,600,000, and of this total the United Kingdom supplied forty-nine per cent. This will be the first Empire Exhibition which has been held outside Great Britain and is receiving the full support of the Union of South Africa Government and the Government of rsi.t’ Britain. _A/fcetr enumerating many of the features of the forthcoming exhibition, Lord Riverdale said that, from a business point of view, he could thoroughly recommend it as being an opportunity of showing what British manufacturers can do for the South African market with a view to the expansion of our trade. In metals and manufactures, including machinery and vehicles, South Africa imported more than £24,000,000 in 1934, and Great Britain supplied only £12,000,000 in this item alone. If the market was studied and our goods shown in the right way, there lies a large field for further expansion. The same might be said for the item of fibres, yarns, textiles and apparel. In 1934 the Union's total imports for these were 15 millions, of which the United Kingdom's share was less than £10,000,000.
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Empire Exhibition at Johannesburg. Nature 137, 182 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137182a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137182a0