Life at Klip River

Life at Klip River
The move down south necessitated a huge change in the lifestyle of the AmaWasha. They now had to rely on the Netherlands South Africa Railway Company (NZASM) to transport bundles of washing to and from their customers, at exorbitant prices. Eventually the Sanitary Board managed to get the NZASM to reduce its prices but another railway problem reduced their output, and therefore their income. The quality and frequency of the service was a headache for the washermen. They were forced to transport their bundles in empty coal trucks – hardly suitable for clean washing. And the NZASM's timetable meant that the washermen could not make their deliveries and collections in town in one day. Their troubles went further. They could not grow crops at Klip River and had to buy provisions from the local store at uncompetitive prices. Since they were further from town and potential customers, they could not sell beer to bolster their income. Four black policemen and a feared Constable Botha kept a close eye on operations, thus eliminating any chance of illegal second-hand clothes selling. Squeezed in this manner, says Van Onselen, they did what most businessmen would do: they increased their prices from "four shillings to eight shillings for a bundle of washing in an attempt to cope with the new cost structure that had been imposed upon them a 100 percent increase". At the same time mechanised laundry washing was fast gaining ground in the town. By April 1898 there were some six laundries operating, having taken advantage of the changes happening to the AmaWasha. The Melrose Steam Laundry was opened on the banks of the Jukskei River in April 1897 and recruited Dhobis. In 1899 these Hindus asked the owners of the land for a piece on which to build a temple. The Siva Subramanian Temple, a wood and iron structure, was largely demolished in 1996 to make way for a new temple, now an incongruous structure in the plush suburb of Melrose. The laundry operated until the depression of the 1920s.

The move down south necessitated a huge change in the lifestyle of the AmaWasha. They now had to rely on the Netherlands South Africa Railway Company (NZASM) to transport bundles of washing to and from their customers, at exorbitant prices. Eventually the Sanitary Board managed to get the NZASM to reduce its prices but another railway problem reduced their output, and therefore their income.

The quality and frequency of the service was a headache for the washermen. They were forced to transport their bundles in empty coal trucks – hardly suitable for clean washing. And the NZASM's timetable meant that the washermen could not make their deliveries and collections in town in one day.

Their troubles went further. They could not grow crops at Klip River and had to buy provisions from the local store at uncompetitive prices. Since they were further from town and potential customers, they could not sell beer to bolster their income. Four black policemen and a feared Constable Botha kept a close eye on operations, thus eliminating any chance of illegal second-hand clothes selling.

Squeezed in this manner, says Van Onselen, they did what most businessmen would do: they increased their prices from "four shillings to eight shillings for a bundle of washing in an attempt to cope with the new cost structure that had been imposed upon them a 100 percent increase".

At the same time mechanised laundry washing was fast gaining ground in the town. By April 1898 there were some six laundries operating, having taken advantage of the changes happening to the AmaWasha.

The Melrose Steam Laundry was opened on the banks of the Jukskei River in April 1897 and recruited Dhobis. In 1899 these Hindus asked the owners of the land for a piece on which to build a temple. The Siva Subramanian Temple, a wood and iron structure, was largely demolished in 1996 to make way for a new temple, now an incongruous structure in the plush suburb of Melrose. The laundry operated until the depression of the 1920s.