Bechuanaland Protectorate report / Commonwealth Relations Office.

  • Great Britain. Office of Commonwealth Relations.
Date:
[1960]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Bechuanaland Protectorate report / Commonwealth Relations Office. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/144 (page 9)
    PART I I CHAPTER 1 Population The census taken in 1956 revealed the statistics: — Africans . Asians . Coloureds . Europeans . following population 316,578 248 676 3,173 Total.... 320,675 During the year there were 131 births and 24 deaths regis¬ tered amongst Europeans, Asians and Coloureds. Births and deaths of Africans are not registered. The great majority of the population live in the eastern and north-western parts of the Territory. About one-half live in vil¬ lages of 1,000 or more inhabitants, although many of these spend a large part of their time at outlying cattle posts. There are four towns with a population of over 10,000 — Kanye, Serowe, Molepolole and Mochudi. CHAPTER 2 Occupations Wages and Labour Organisations Stock raising and agriculture occupy almost ninety per cent, of the population. Livestock are cared for largely on a family basis, and the cultivation of crops (mostly at subsistence level) is for the most part a family concern. In these respects, there¬ fore, the vast majority of the population is self-employed, and there is comparatively little paid labour in the Protectorate. A certain number of African and most European farmers employ labour in the form of drovers, herders, cultivators and tractor drivers. Trade and the limited industries presently existing provide employment for the majority of Europeans who are not farmers, and for a comparatively substantial proportion of African wage earners. Apart from the posts of shop assistants, storemen,