Milnertonian

On 5 April 1906, 200 sightseers were taken to Milnerton by special train and “expressed themselves as surprised at both the development that has taken place and the natural beauty and charm of the Estate”. Milnerton c. 1905 Despite this evidence of goodwill towards the new township, the continuance of the Slump could not be ignored and led during 1906 to the introduction of a new sales technique which, the management hoped, would help to neutralise the prevailing financial stagnation. This was described as “Sales of Land by means of Travellers”, who today would be described as itinerant salesmen. According to the instructions given, these emissaries were to travel round Cape Colony, quoting £100 for inside lots, £130 for corner and shop lots, and £150 for corner shop lots. Considerable success seems to have attended this experiment, with almost 40 lots sold in this manner by the end of the year. By the end of 1908, 15 miles of gravel road had been laid on the Estate and 30,00...

In 1897, the year that saw the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria, the new High Commissioner for South Africa, Sir Alfred Milner (afterwards Lord Milner) arrived at the Cape. In honour of his appointment, the promoters of a new venture decided to use his name in that of their enterprise. Sir Alfred Milner (later Lord Milner) The founding of Milnerton Estates Limited, on 30 August 1897, under the Cape Company Act, reflected a temporary wave of optimism and an urge towards development which had been sweeping the whole country as the trauma of the Jameson Raid receded into the background. The  Cape Argus  of 25 October 1897 carried an historic item in its advertising columns: “MILNERTON ESTATES COMPANY LIMITED Notify that they have bought Paarden Eiland and Jan Biesje’s Kraal for a Township and intend connecting it with a Railway." The 25 shareholders included men prominent not merely in local affairs but in those of the subcontinent, among them the chairman, Sir Jame...