Page:George McCall Theal, History of South Africa from 1873 to 1884, Volume 1 (1919).djvu/70

50 History of the Cape Colony. 11^77 One of his first acts in the colony was the opening on the 5th of April of an international exhibition in Capetown, which was due to the enterprise of an Italian, Signor Cagli. The building was erected in the garden of the masonic lodge De Goede Hoop, and was constructed of wood, galvanised iron, and glass. It was one hundred and eighty-four feet long, seventy-eight feet wide, and fifty-six feet high. The show of South African products was decidedly poor, the best exhibit being some furniture made at Lovedale ; but European manufacturers sent farm machinery, steam engines, and many other articles in great variety, so that the exhibition served a very useful purpose. The building itself, which was afterwards used as an assembly hall and a theatre, was the cause of a big disaster. On Sunday the 21st of February 1892 it caught fire, and being like matchwood burnt with great rapidity. The nearest buildings, — the lodge De Goede Hoop and the office of the native affairs depa^rt- ment, — though their walls were unusually solid, were soon alight, and were utterly destroyed. On the 1st of January 1876 the Cape Copper Mining Company's line of railway from Port Nolloth was com- pleted to Ookiep, where the richest mine in Little Namaqualand was being worked. The ^district is so secluded, however, that this event had no effect on the remainder of the colony. It was very different with the lines being constructed by the government, which were already beginning to facilitate intercourse between the interior and the sea- ports. On the 1st of May 1877 the line from East London was opened to King-Williamstown, and on the 12th of November of the same year the branch of the western line was completed and opened to Malmesbury. By the close of 1877 the heavy work and tunnels in the Hex Biver kloof had been completed, and the main western line had reached Matjesfontein, deep in the karoo. The midland line was advancing rapidly from