Читать книгу Sir David de Villiers Graaff - Ebbe Dommisse - Страница 11

Power for the Cape

A month after his re-election as mayor, Graaff was elected unopposed as member of the Western Circle of the Legislative Council on 14 September 1891.

A news item in a local paper mentioned that he had incurred no costs for an election campaign. Due to the fortuitous circumstances that had enabled him to become a member of the upper house as a young man, he was planning to distribute among Cape Town charities an amount equal to what he would have spent on a campaign.1

Graaff, who was sworn in as member only a few months later, filled the vacancy in the upper house of the Cape Parliament left by Combrinck’s death. His responsibilities, therefore, increased in his second year as mayor, an even busier year than the first. Still, the additional duties did not distract his attention from the modernisation and improvements in Cape Town.

One of the innovations in Cape Town for which much of the credit would go to Graaff was the supply of electricity to replace gas lamps. This was made possible by means of improved water power, to which he had already referred at the end of his first term in his mayor’s minute: “With the water power now available, electric light should be possible and this will prove a boom and large returns from places of business and residences.”2

The idea that the city should get electrical power was not Graaff’s alone; other councillors had pleaded for it earlier. A start had already been made in 1883 when the Anglo-African Light Company supplied power to the railways for 22 lights at the docks and six at the station. The Cape Parliament was illuminated by arc lights. For most Cape consumers there was no centralised power supplier and each user had to generate its own power.3 Graaff’s drive to establish such a power supplier and replace gas lamps with electric lights appeared to have been decisive in the decade after the American inventor Thomas Edison had developed the electric light bulb in 1879.

Pressure for proper electric lighting for the entire Cape Town area increased shortly after Graaff’s second term as mayor had begun. The Lantern published an article describing the robberies and assaults on the Grand Parade at night. The article put the question whether it was “laziness, inertness or stupidity that is responsible for not properly lighting the city”. The author recommended to Graaff to gird his loins and provide proper lighting for the city.4 In an editorial in the same publication, which had been offended shortly before because Graaff had given a photograph of himself in his mayoral robe to the Cape Argus, the mayor was praised for what he had achieved for the city as a 32-year-old:

“He is the most valuable kind of man – a self-made man. But Mr. Graaff’s value to his fellow-citizens is not so much as an enterprising business man, as because the work he has done for Capetown in his municipal capacity. That Mayor Graaff is responsible for the improvements which are on the way, everybody must admit.

When Capetown is but a few years older, and our visitors more frequent, it will be the Mayor the people will thank for the care taken in the devising of plans for their health and comfort. In those days, not so far away, we shall have a floating bath out in the bay, a theatre worthy of the artists we shall receive, an hotel fit to receive a distinguished visitor in, a sea-wall promenade which will be a place worthy the attendance of our wives, our daughters and their friends, and streets which are well paved and cleaned.”5

Before travelling abroad, on 14 November 1891 Graaff laid the cornerstone of the new opera house that was to be built on the Grand Parade. The building, which could seat 1 500 people, was erected on the corner of Darling and Parliament streets at a cost of £40 000, especially thanks to the support of Graaff and the industrialist Anders Ohlsson, who both served on the board of directors of the Grand Parade Buildings Company.6

Graaff departed for England on 18 November 1891 aboard the mail boat Hawarden Castle, accompanied by his sister, Hannie, and other relatives. Nearly all his colleagues in the city council and municipal officials came to bid him farewell.7 The long journey abroad, which he regarded partly as pleasure and relaxation and partly as work, took almost six months. After his visit to England he went to the continent and visited the United States. He familiarised himself with various urban innovations, including the advantages of electricity, which especially impressed him in Berlin.

Moreover, during his journey he was received by various dignitaries, including mayors and chairmen of chambers of commerce. His group had stepped ashore in Plymouth harbour and at the station a salon carriage awaited that had been sent by Great Western Railways for the purpose of transporting his group to London.

In London Graaff was interviewed by the publication South Africa at the Savoy Hotel in December, describing him as “young, rich, handsome – and popular with the ladies, who made him a presentation some few weeks back”. In the interview Graaff set out his plans for loans secured for Cape Town. His plans included a new reservoir, electric lights for the streets, a sea-wall promenade, new streets to the seafront, a fish market, a new city hall and new paving for the streets. The harbour would be expanded and the drainage system of the city would be changed to eliminate the bucket system, and land for this purpose had been acquired at Maitland. The people of Cape Town “are now forging ahead very fast, determined to make Cape Town the first, and the finest, town in South Africa,” he said.8

During his stay in London, where he kept up a demanding programme of meetings, he suffered from a cold almost daily.9 That compelled him to leave for the continent. In London he left a letter for his friend D.C. de Waal, who was also travelling abroad, complaining of “feet cold, hands cold, legs cold, the whole body cold!” The letter continued: “The cold is bad enough to kill an elephant. And every day more miserable. At night I put on my flannel vest and two pairs of pyjamas and I cover myself with three blankets, but I remain cold. The cold pervades everything, and as a rule I am quite a warm person.”10

In Berlin Graaff had a grand reception early in the new year. The mayor of Berlin, Herr Von Josczkenberg, made a secretary available to him, and he visited the institutions of the city accompanied by an experienced guide. He also studied in detail the city’s drainage and sewerage systems.11

The emperor invited him to the imperial box at the Berlin Opera and had a long conversation with him at the reception afterwards. Emperor Wilhelm II, who was fluent in English, wanted to know, among other things, what Graaff’s thought of the opinions of Lord Randolph Churchill, who had written dismissively about the “Dutch” of South Africa.12 Graaff answered diplomatically, but the emperor was less diplomatic, according to reports. One report said:

“Then the Kaiser, with characteristic bluntness, said that although he had never spoken to Lord Randolph he had once seen him from a distance. What he had been able to learn of the noble lord had not given him an exalted idea of his lordship as a public man. He had perused some of the letters which Lord Randolph had written from the Cape, but had not been able to make much out of them. He preferred, indeed, the description of South Africa which can be found in some of Mr. Rider Haggard’s novels. And the Mayor smiled.”

The emperor surprised Graaff with his knowledge of Africa and his interest in the continent. He quizzed the South African: “What kind of citizens are the Germans of the Cape Colony?”

“The very best we could wish for, Sire,” replied Graaff, upon which the emperor remarked, “That comes from the military training they receive in their homeland.” His parting words were, “Do not forget to give my greetings to the Germans in Cape Town, and tell them I am glad to hear of their loyalty and prosperity.”13

In Germany Graaff persuaded the company Siemens & Halske to send an electrical engineer to Cape Town at their own expense to present a plan for electric lights to the city council. He did likewise in London with Crompton & Co. Ltd.14 Thus Graaff saved the council a significant amount on expert advice.

Graaff returned to England, where he was entertained by various dignitaries once again, before leaving for the Riviera for a holiday. Afterwards he visited the Netherlands. The Queen Regent, Emma, widow of King Willem III, who acted as ruler until her 12-year-old daughter, Queen Wilhelmina, could accede to the Dutch throne, granted him an audience. She displayed great interest in South Africa. There always had to be sympathetic ties between the people of the Netherlands and the colonists of Dutch origin at the Cape, she told Graaff, who had brought along a copy of a painting of Jan van Riebeeck on display in the city hall in Cape Town. He wanted to know if it was a true image.15

In the Netherlands Graaff also paid a visit to Friesland, where he bought Friesian stud cows, which were transported to his farm, De Grendel, by sea. The stud bull named Pieter that he acquired from S.J. van der Werff of Leeuwarden was regarded an exceptional specimen: “It was admitted on every hand there was not his compeer in the whole of Friesland, and the Frieslanders say nothing finer was ever exported…”16

Graaff returned to England before leaving for America. In some publications it was mentioned that he had been introduced to Queen Victoria.17 That is not quite correct: he was, indeed, introduced at a levee at the Court of St James’s on 12 May 1892, but it was conducted on the queen’s behalf by the Duke of Connaught and Strathearne.18

During his five-week visit to the United States the 32-year-old Graaff made a strong impression on the Washington Post in the capital, which wrote in a report about his visit:

“He is a man of commanding appearance and elegant address. His face is covered by a full brown beard, long military moustache, high and intellectual forehead, and penetrating eyes. Mr. Graaff is the youngest councillor who has yet filled the Mayoral chair of Cape Town… He is young, rich, handsome, and popular.”19

In May 1892 Graaff returned to Cape Town. His friend D.C. de Waal joined him and Hannie on the return voyage aboard the Tartar. Half a dozen councillors awaited the Tartar when Graaff and his group stepped ashore in Table Bay harbour on 2 June.20 He was just in time for the opening of Parliament the next day by the governor-general, Sir Henry Loch, where he was sworn in as member of the Legislative Council.

In addition to his municipal responsibilities, parliamentary duties now rested on Graaff’s shoulders in the second year of his mayoral term, which above all became a financial success. The finance committee reported that favourable opportunities had developed for the re-issuing of the municipal loan in order to get a drainage system up and running. Simultaneously, lower interest rates than the existing 5 per cent were able to be negotiated for the municipal debt. Graaff was enthusiastic about this:

“… the works could be done without increasing the present rate of taxation, while the sinking fund would eliminate the whole indebtedness of the city, including the present debts and costs of all new works in 57 years.”21

During the course of the year he lobbied for other sources of water provision than the Molteno Reservoir. He also proposed that the tender of the German company Siemens & Halske be approved for a power plant driven by water power. It was also decided that sufficient steam traction should be provided to supply power continuously in case of temporary interruptions of the water source.22

On 4 August 1892 Graaff delivered his second and final mayor’s minute. He expressed his satisfaction that his first “cornerstone” – an excellent drainage system – was being implemented. The council had approved the plan of the engineer Clement Dunscombe and the work would start shortly. Sewage would in future be pumped from the mouth of the Salt River to a pumping station near the Sout River station and from there to Outspan Farm next to the road to Malmesbury.

Graaff reported that it had been decided to start with a completely new roads programme, “because the present method is an absolute failure”. The main roads looked like dirty chess sets. According to a memorandum of the city engineer added to the mayor’s minute, this chaotic state of affairs would come to an end. Technical reports showed that the layout and surfaces of the major throughways and secondary streets would be improved.

Furthermore, Graaff expressed his satisfaction about the transfer of one of the city’s oldest and top attractions, the Company Gardens, from the colonial authority to the city council on 1 January 1892.

He lauded the city’s police force, about which the police chief, McLeod B. Robinson, had made a report to the city council for the first time.23 With a mere 85 constables, the police force had to be regarded as insufficient, bearing in mind that by that time Cape Town’s population exceeded 50 000. With more than 30 brothels, the city experienced the plague of all harbour cities, and it was calculated that there were two prostitutes to every constable.24

Water supply had been improved, and that was a precondition for the electrification of street lights. Although expenditure of £20 000 would have caused a stir a few years before, an amount of £225 000 was now budgeted for public works: electric lighting, £60 000; water works, £50 000; city council and offices, £50 000; and street paving, £20 000. Graaff estimated the total expenditure at £450 000, an amount made possible due to the passing of the Crown Property Rating Bill after its introduction into the Cape Parliament by Cecil John Rhodes.25

After the mayor’s minute the city council unanimously and with acclamation adopted a motion putting on record its high appreciation for the services rendered by Graaff “… in securing the augmentation of the City Revenue, inaugurating a comprehensive and able scheme of public works, thus laying the foundation of increased comfort to the Citizens; and of the energy and impartiality with which he has discharged the duties of his high office”. A framed tribute was handed to him at a council meeting the following year.26

The Cape Argus also had flattering comments for Graaff’s time in office, which the paper referred to as “a brilliant mayoralty”. “In more than one respect we have entered upon new methods of conducting municipal business. It was an excellent thing for the town that the Mayor should travel, at his own costs and charges, and utilise his journey as he did for the inspection of what is being done in other cities.”27

Graaff’s mayoral term had been the most progressive and innovative in the history of the city until then. Civic pride and the desire to develop the city into a prestigious beacon at the southern tip of Africa to the advantage of its inhabitants – surely this was his major motivation, rather than petty self-interest. This is confirmed, among other things, by the journeys abroad he had undertaken at his own expense, and from which the city and its inhabitants benefited. The renewal and improvements he started in his term, and which were continued while he remained an ordinary councillor, were based on a sound financial policy. That way the support of voters and improved service delivery were ensured. His term of office can undoubtedly serve as an excellent example at municipal level in the “new South Africa”, where corruption, nepotism, tender irregularities, bureaucratic incompetence, squandering of money and greed were rampant early in the 21st century.

When Graaff stepped down as mayor in 1892, he was succeeded by Johan Mocke. Three members of the Afrikaner Bond – Graaff, his predecessor, D.C. de Waal, and his successor, Mocke, served consecutively as mayors of Cape Town.28

The power-supply project was taken further after Graaff’s mayoral term. The first cables for electrification were laid in January 1894 and Siemens & Halske completed the work in 15 months.29 When the network in Cape Town was finally completed in 1895, it was regarded as a triumph for Graaff. At the proposal of the council’s public works committee, the first power exchange was named after him. It was also proposed that a commemorative plaque in honour of Graaff be put up at the building, as it was mostly thanks to him that the city got electric lights.30 The writer Lawrence Green pointed out that Graaff had tried for years to convince the city council to illuminate the streets by means of electricity. Earlier there were gaslights, after the opening of the first gas works in 1845.31

Graaff Electrical Lighting Works was opened on 13 April 1895 by Mayor George Smart. According to a commemorative plaque still attached to the building, now a historic monument next to the Molteno Reservoir in Oranjezicht,32 the same night in the city hall in Greenmarket Square the mayoress switched on the first electric streetlights in Cape Town. A total of 775 poles had been planted throughout the city and Three Anchor Bay for the street lights, which illuminated the city all of a sudden.33

The new power exchange was built at a cost of £75 000. On the opening night Mayor Smart christened it by breaking open a bottle of champagne against one of the turbines, driven by steam or water. One of the guests looking on with a jaundiced eye was the mayor of “dark and distant Durban”.

Afterwards everybody left for the city hall, where the police and firefighters kept the crowds at bay. When the lights were switched on at 7.30, the square was brightly lit, an orchestra played the “Old Hundredth” and on an electric screen on the balcony of the city hall the words “Graaff Electrical Lighting Works” appeared.

Mayor Smart addressed the excited crowd: “One street light is worth three policemen. Electricity has not come one hour earlier than necessary. It will bring about a very great improvement in the moral atmosphere of the city and afford protection to property. Our works are equal to any in the world.” The Cape Argus underlined his view: “Cape Town is ahead of many towns in Britain in adopting this mysterious force, the electric fluid.”34

Smart said neither Graaff nor the city council could lay claim to Graaff’s having come up with the idea first. Others, including councillors Thomas O’Reilly and John Woodhead (after whom the Woodhead Reservoir on Table Mountain was named), had lobbied for it, but after the council had approved it, Graaff worked wholeheartedly to execute it.

Apart from the engineers’ fees, the work had not cost the council anything, since Graaff had borne the cost himself.35 That was what he termed real patriotism, Smart declared.

To loud applause, Graaff got his turn to speak and said he believed Smart was overestimating the work he had done with regard to the electric lights. Without the help of the many councillors who had supported him, electric lights would not have become a reality in Cape Town. Moreover, he had only performed his civic duty and that gave him great pleasure.36