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 Another one with fond memories of family outings to Camps Bay was
Bernard Lewis who recalled going to Camps Bay to visit the Rev.D.P.Faure
who lived in “Edenhof” in Sedgmoor Road in a house of trimmed
mountain stone.
In 1897 another Mills, Samuel Solomon Blumenthal Mills, a building
contractor, not related to the Camps Bay Mills, bought Clifton House from
Ohlsson’s for £4 000 and turned it into the Clifton-on-Sea Hotel. Mills and
his family lived there as the proprietors, despite some vicissitudes caused
one bad winter by the mountain tumbling down onto their hotel. They
would go for walks from Clifton-on-Sea to Camps Bay and as an hotel
proprietor, he could see the potential that this beautiful and deserted bay
had for development as a residential suburb. All that was needed to make
his dream a reality was money. In 1898 he met George Pauling who shared
his enthusiasm and had the necessary financial contacts.
An engineer, George Pauling had travelled the world and seen many
beautiful sights. He had built dams, harbours and bridges in India and
China, in Argentina and Angola. George and his brother Henry were
railway contractors. Their first railway line in Port Alfred had been a
success and was followed by many others in Southern Africa and overseas,
including lines from Haifa in Palestine to Damascus in Syria and from
Athens in Greece to Piraeus its harbour. As a result he was widely travelled
and had been entertained by wealthy capitalists in their expensive villas
clinging to the cliffs above the sea, and had admired their Bellevues and
their Buona Vistas over drinks on the patio. Here in Camps Bay he found the same
outstanding views but hardly any homes -
Self Catering in Camps
Bay
Land was becoming expensive in Cape Town. District Six was an
overcrowded slum, semis were climbing up the narrow streets of
Woodstock and Observatory, and villages were springing up further and
further away, in Observatory, Rondebosch, Claremont and Wynberg,
following the paths of the omnibus and the railway line.
Yet Camps Bay which was so close to the city and had such dramatic views,
remained undeveloped. As accessibility to the village was poor, very few
people lived here. Like S S B Mills, Pauling could see enormous profit for the
property developer who would be farsighted enough to buy up these vast
tracts of cheap land, lay it out into townships and improve accessibility.
Through his railway construction he had met many venture capitalists, rich
from the proceeds of mining, looking for good investments, men like Rhodes,
Wernher and Beit. Anticipating a forthcoming war in the Transvaal, these
shrewd businessmen were keen to invest their money in the more secure
Cape.
 With the Randlords’ backing, a syndicate named the Mills’ Syndicate was
formed to buy up all the freehold land in Camps Bay. Those involved were S.
S. B. Mills, builder, C. C. Silberbauer, attorney, C. Marais, attorney, G. Pauling,
engineer, J. S. le Sueur and G. Kay, secretary. The scheme was well planned.
They intended to construct roads into Camps Bay and install a tramway to
bring Camps Bay into easy reach for the commuter to the City. Once this was
done, they anticipated that homeowners would flock to the newly opened
suburb. The syndicate would subdivide Camps Bay into building lots, sell the
tramway and reap the benefits of their planning.
The Mills family who had owned the area since 1864 were also tiring of
their idyllic summers. F.W. Mills129 complained in 1898 of a visit from Aunt
Mary, “who does not like living near the sea, the noise of the waves and the
glare being too much for her nerves”, and of the distance, “I shall be glad
when we move into town from Camps Bay as the days are getting short, the
driving in and out too tires me rather.” With the threat of war about, the
Government was also eyeing the quiet area. “The Military want to use part of
Camps Bay for target practice. Col Crofton will call here presently to talk
about it. Uncle Dan and I are willing to grant permission as long as no harm
of any kind is done to the property.” Within a few weeks his options had
changed and F.W. wrote to his son on 19 October 1898: “The weather is
perfect now, I ordered a tent for Freddie which I expect in a few days. But
perhaps he will not be able to use it much at Camps Bay as the property is
under offer to a Syndicate, who have three months from today to decide
whether they will buy it.”130 It was to take more than three months for the
decision to be made.
In May 1899 Pauling and Mills offered the executors of Daniel Mills’ estate
£1 000 for an option to purchase.131 This was accepted and the balance of the
money, £32 000, was paid to the estate on 7 March1900. This included Daniel
Mills’ Brighton Estate as well as a vast tract of perpetual quitrent land
originally granted to the Hon. A. Oliphant in 1839. Not all the family of the
late Daniel Mills were in favour of the sale, but as one member of the family
wished to be paid out his share of the estate and the other members did not
have the money to do so, the entire estate had to be sold.
As there was insufficient water for the size of the town they intended to
develop in Camps Bay, they bought the adjacent property Oudekraal which
had a plentiful supply, from the owner Van Breda. Through this purchase they
also acquired his farm in Oranjezicht, and extended their scheme for
township and tramway development here too.
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publication may be reproduced without the prior written consent
of both the publisher and Holiday Rentals in Cape Town
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