Acknowledges receipt of letter of May 21; confirms tha he and the chiefs Sechele and Gasisebe (Gaeiteiwe) have combined but only in order to drive the freebooters out of their territory and not to interfore with Mashette; unlawfulness, of the freebooters who stop traders and take their belongings as well as mistreating Barolong; the Transvaal has supplied the freebooters with a cannon and ammunition; their cattle has been captured by the freebooters and driven over the Transvaal border and therefore irretrievable; suggests that Hudson come and Judge the situatien himself; encloses copies of his letters to the freebooters and Moshette.

Copy. Encloses 8(a), 8(b), 8(c). letter. 2p.

Invoices for general supplies, clothing, school fees and books, repairs to wagons, food, clothes, farming requisites, livestock and cattle, and attorneys' fees.

(Note: The correspondence folder 1916-1920 contains a page of a correspondence presumably written to Silas Molema, dated 28 November 1919, written in ink. The same page also has part of what might be the first part of Solomon Plaatje's notebook, written in pencil and it has the page number 7 written above the text.

It is assumed that Plaatje had written more notes prior to his diary which he entitled "Continuation of my notes on the Siege of Mafeking" - see collection A2550. Reference needs to be made to the Centenary Edition of "The Mafikeng Diary of Sol T. Plaatje", edited by John Comaroff and Brian Willan with Solomon Molema and Andrew Reed, published in 1999, which attends to this particular page 7 in its Introduction and Endnote.).

Correspondents:

Ashley, Joseph Leo.

Boyes, George J.

Fleming, James.

Frost, H J.

Gordon, Sundel.

Green, E Graham.

Hall, Chas.

Henderson, James.

Kent, H E.

Klatzky, P[olly].

Lekoko, Dick.

Mabusela, G.

Maseng, Thos.

Moses, Jacob.

Motshegare, Joel.

Motshegare, Silas.

Roberts, A W.

Ross, V L.

Rowland, G.

Rowland, R.

Stewart, James.

Transfeldt, R.

van Jaarsvelt, Albertus Stephanus.

Wright, R C S.

Attorneys:

de Kock and de Kock.

Joyce, Edward Walter.

Minchin, Spencer.

Rice, M E.

Subjects:

Agriculture and farming:

Leasing of farm; produce; damage by cattle trespassing on land; dipping of cattle; sale of stock; fencing of farms.

Education:

Demands for payment of school fees from Lovedale and Healdtown for Molema's children and relatives; granting of bursary to son (Modiri).

Business and trade:

Demands to settle outstanding debts; loans; summons to settle disputes in court; application by S T Molema for a general dealer's licence, correspondence from W Green and Son Ltd., publishers of S M Molema's The Bantu, past and present.

Local administration:

Collecting of particulars of cases of cruelty to Barolong by the Boers; commandeering of horses by Bechuanaland Rifles and supplying of forage to British troops during the South African War; claims for war compensation; taxes; government population census of 1911; problem of squatters on the Molopo Native Reserve and Silas Molema's right to lease these lands; increased subsidy to headmen; licences to possess arms and ammunition; working of boundaries.

Other:

Queen's Memorial Fund 1901; correspondence courses; dispute over debt with Chief Gaseitsewe; Silas Molema as executor of estates; labour recruitment for the mines; granting of prospecting licenses and concession certificates.