After the Anglo-Boer War, the government pursued a policy which favoured the white farmers. The switch to the white farmers was intensified by the ability of white commercial farmers to secure favourable legislation from colonial, republican and later Union governments. The commercialisation of white agriculture was aided by a massive programme of subsidies, grants and other aid. Assistance to farmers came forth in the shape of fencing, dams, houses, veterinary and horticultural advice; farmers were cushioned by generous rail rates, by special credit facilities and by bountiful tax relief. As early as 1908, with the floodgates of interest politics not yet fully raised, it was remarked that "it is probable that during the last twenty years more money per head of the rural population has been devoted to the relief of farmers in South Africa than in any other country in the world". Then, to cap it all, as the railways passed through farming country the demand for farms and land rose and so did their value.