Briefwisseling oor Kaapse sake 1778-1792

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XXVII. Swellengrebel to E. Huydecoper van Maarseveen:
(8.4.1784)

My friend Visscher told me of your request for points to include in an instruction for the new Governor of the Cape. The kind of instruction depends upon the intentions of the XVII regarding the colony. The first question is whether an attempt is to be made to restore peace by force or forbearance. I am afraid force will have the same result as it had when the English used it in America.

Much depends on the character of the new Governor whom I do not know personally. The XVII must have gone into this question and ought to be able to frame instructions accordingly. In the second place the question arises whether the Company intends to keep the Cape solely as a refreshment-station. In that case a governor even with the most noble intentions will not be able to help when surpluses occur and prices fall owing to overproduction.

The XVII must first determine the real situation of the colony and how it has developed. It ought to have enough material in its possession for this to be done; if it has not been done, or should more information be required the new Governor should be able, after enquiry, to give them an unbiased picture. Only then will it be possible to determine how the colony should be ruled. I must admit that I cannot see any future for a colony where the only outlet the burghers have for their produce is to provide refreshments for delivery to the Company, whilst the officials are so badly paid that they have to augment their incomes from perquisites of office and illicit trade and other activities which must be injurious to the Company and irksome to the burghers.

As far as I could gather from the estates left by my father and my uncle Tulbagh, who were governors at he Cape for respectively ten and twenty years, I do not think that the Governors have a big income, though living standards were different then and now. This is confirmed by Governor Van Plettenberg who has told me that he had to augment his salary out of his private income, which was considerable as he was married to the widow of the Hon. Mr. Louis Taillefert. Moreover, to their credit, the casual emoluments enjoyed by recent Governors have been less than before and Governor De Graaf will have difficulty in any attempt to restore them again. He should be given an adequate yearly income to be independent of such sources of income. It should not be necessary for him and the Secunde to receive between them say Rds. 10 on every leaguer of wine that is sold. The farms run by Company's officials also provide income for the Governor while they cost the Company

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a lot of money. A clear statement of profit and loss would probably show that the Company itself gained nothing from its imports into and exports from the Cape, though it provides considerable fees for officials.

As matters stand at present the Company should cut down expenses, which is not very practicable as long as the Company spends so much money on farming, and keeps up a trade which is profitable only to the officials and as long as she wants to keep a rapidly expanding colony merely as a refreshment station for ships trading to the East Indies.