Empire Cricket Booklet

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RICHARD PARRY AND DALE SLATER

would remain in short supply, and the less capital available, the more important that labour costs were minimised, particularly as the clean-up costs meant that few mines could expect to show profits for the foreseeable future. And the fixed price for gold meant that even shortages did not drive up prices. The cost of labour was the critical factor in establishing profit margins, and black wages were therefore reduced. By 1902, they had fallen to just over half the rate of 1895. 22 The problem for the industry, though, was that the mechanisms which had forced blacks on to the mines in the pre-war period had broken down amidst the dislocation in the countryside. The answer was not, however, to replace the lost black labourers with

Labour shortage was at the core of the problem. When the South African War ended in May 1902, it left behind a devastated population, both white and black, and a splintered economy. The war almost destroyed the very industry it had been fought to save. By the mid 1890s, the outcrops had been mined out and the remaining gold reefs, while rich, were very deep, requiring vast capital expenditure. By 1902, almost three years of idleness had resulted in flooded workings, rusted machinery, and a non existent workforce. The industry had to be restarted almost from scratch under the new British colonial regime, and both capital and labour were in short supply. South Africa's cheap labour policy was partly the product of expediency. Until the long term recovery of the mines could be assured, capital

Lord Harris (seated, centre), the chairman of Consolidated Goldfields, led his company's cricket team when they were matched against the Corner House, Johannesburg, in 1904. The latter players were captained by Aubrey Faulkner (seated fourth from the right}