The 1755 Cape law, promulgated at the request of Batavia Governor-General Jacob Mossel, declared that only he could decorate his carriage with the colonial coat of arms and that he and the Council alone could dress their coaches in livery.

Lower officials and their wives were prohibited from carrying umbrellas (called kiepersol or parasols and a major status symbol), and all women were banned from lining dresses with silk or velvet.

This loosened restrictions somewhat, only imposing the death penalty on those who killed their masters versus forced labor for lesser offences, allowing them to practice a trade to support themselves and buy their freedom as well as others', and placing said free blacks (called Fryswartes) on an equal legal footing with white settlers.

In 1761, he built the first library in the Cape to house books donated by Joachim Nikolaus von Dessin, secretary of the orphan chamber and therefore guardian of estates.

[3] An expedition sent northeast in 1752 was the largest since that of Simon van der Stel in 1685 and traveled through the lands of the Thembu and Xhosa by the Qora River, returning 8 months later.

Later, Captain Hendrik Hop journeyed north of the Orange River, in part to determine how far inland cattle farmers had settled.