CHAPTER
5
The SegregationEra,
1910-1948
The material expectations of the founders of the Union of South
Africa were fulfilled. Between 1910 and 1948, the economy
weathered the Great Depression, and the national income of the
country increased more than three times in real terrns.! The
gold-mining industry made a major contribution
to the na-
tional budget and provided enough foreign exchange for essen-
tial imports, especially heavy machinery and fuel oil. White
farmers precariously held their own with massive state support,
and manufacturing expanded prodigiously after 1933. 2 The
country produced plenty of coal but no oil, and to sustain its
economic growth, it needed large inputs of foreign capital and
technology. In other respects, the economy was nearly self-
sufficient by 1948.
During the same period, the white population consolidated
its control over the state, strengthening its grip on the black
population
and eliminating the British government's legal
power to intervene in South African affairs. Politics under the
154