# The Empire and the century/Land Settlement and Colonization in South Africa

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LAND SETTLEMENT AND COLONIZATION IN SOUTH AFRICA
By COLONEL OWEN THOMAS
Of all the Imperial problems in process of evolution—for solution cannot be named in this connection, since finality in Empire-building synchronizes with an era of deterioration—none can be reckoned of greater moment than that redistribution of population within the nation to which is given the name of settlement or colonization.
The subject is so large that it would, of course, be impossible to attempt to cover in one article both general principle and particular application. Nevertheless, before proceeding to consider in detail the question of settlement in South Africa, a few introductory words on the theory of colonization seem both reasonable and desirable.
At the outset I would like to say that the colonization of British territory by British citizens has no right to be regarded as emigration, and until this elementary comprehension of the relations existing between component parts of the Empire is mastered by the various redistributory agencies now at work in this country, the Imperial standpoint must be largely missed.
The emigrant breaks with his past, closes the volume of his British birth, with all of pride, honour, and love that it includes, and puts it from him altogether, or retains it only as the goal which he may hope to attain again for the comfort of his declining years. The emigrant, in a word, if he be a man of ordinary patriotism and good feeling, is to be pitied.
​With the colonist it is quite otherwise. His national traditions unaltered, and his national affections unshaken, he goes forward, building his future on his past, changing the outward circumstances indeed, but only as normally happens to every man in the course of progression from the nursery, through kindergarten, school-days, and University or apprentice life, to the occupation of manhood. Migration from one part of the Empire to another should involve no greater uprooting, no further loss of English sentiment to a colonist, than the transference of residence from London to, say, the depth of a Hertfordshire village. In either case the principles of national tradition, feeling, and policy remain unaffected; in either case the outward surroundings and daily happenings of life would be immensely altered. When, from our overcrowded industrial centres, efforts are made to transfer fit persons to Canada, to Australia, to South Africa, it is fundamentally a mistake to call such movement 'emigration.' It ought to be considered not emigration—a 'going out of' the country—but rather a home-flitting to another part of the same land, where opportunities of labour are greater, the surroundings better adapted to the rearing of a healthy family, and the chance of serving the Empire a hundredfold increased. The average Englishman, especially of the less-educated class, is too apt to assume that patriotism means soldiering and naval service only. It is, indeed, obviously true that every citizen of the Empire should be so trained to the use of arms and to the meaning of strict discipline as to be capable of efficient service either on sea or land in time of need; but that in no way affects the indisputable fact that he who devotes his life to the development of the Empire as a successful colonist is not less a patriot than he who accepts death in the national defence. To belittle the devotion of the soldier is ingratitude and inappreciation beyond contempt; to underrate the Imperial service involved in colonization indicates lack of intelligence amounting to childishness. ​In these days of strenuous living and severe international competition we cannot afford to remain children.
To many who read these lines the above remarks may seem like the babbling of truisms. But I have made them as a protest against the attitude assumed towards colonization by so large a majority—that it is only a last resource, a sacrifice of all that is dear on the altar of fast money-making, a veritable 'emigration' from all the comforts of civilization into the outer darkness of an alien wilderness. This is not the spirit in which to knit closely the family relation, not the way to teach English children to merge that narrower title in the more glorious name of Britons. It is idle to talk of 'Mother and Daughter Lands' so long as we persist in regarding the Colonies on the same footing as the foreign countries to which alone men of our race may 'emigrate.' If it is such an alarming and melancholy thing to move from Stepney to Rhodesia, from West Ham to Manitoba, then the sooner we give the relationship its true name, and call the Colonies England's step-children, the quicker we shall arrive at actual conditions.
We want to start, or at least very greatly to strengthen, the notion of colonization on its Imperial, as apart from its individual practical, side; to treat it as a change of homes; to bring before every man, woman, and child who migrates from England to other parts of the Empire that he is, indeed, moving within the family; that he is a living, and therefore a most powerful, factor in the continual renewing of the ties sometimes fretted by the strain of mere space distance; that upon him, in the aggregate, and not on statesmen, soldiers, or sailors, falls the responsibility of Empire. As he fulfils his service, so will the Empire grow in virility, or slip gradually into a congeries of nations, whose people will cry, 'I am of Canada,' 'I of South Africa, 'I of England,' as the case may be, and none will be found to make answer, 'We are all of Britain.'
​But though this Imperial aspect of land settlement, often somewhat overlooked, should form the foundation of all colonization schemes, nations are made up of individuals; the good of the whole includes the good of the units, and a building does not consist of foundations. Therefore the whole subject is one which requires the closest attention to every detail, both in respect of the selection and training of proposed colonists, in the preparation of the new home, and the consideration of those particular social and industrial conditions which differentiate one locality from another.
Thus, for example, the land settlement of South Africa cannot proceed on precisely the same lines as those laid down for Westralia, though perhaps superficially there may be resemblances between the two countries. Recent history has brought South Africa very vividly before the eyes of English people, and it might, therefore, very well seem as though, of all parts of the Empire, the sub-continent would, now that peace is re-established, be the particular spot towards which colonization should naturally flow. This supposition is the more natural in that, for political reasons, British population is peculiarly to be desired. The land settlement of South Africa may therefore be said at the present time to interest all Britons perhaps more than any other individual Imperial scheme. Let us see, then, what are the conditions.
It is, of course, true that, roughly speaking, the general features of South African colonization resemble each other in all the five States of which that area is composed, but it is none the less a fact that, when it comes to practice, each Colony must be taken separately.
Natal.
The Garden Colony covers some 36,000 square miles, and, as its title implies, includes much rich and well-watered territory, and a delightful climate. The fertility of the soil, in comparison with the bulk of the ​neighbouring States, is largely attributable to the Drakensberg Mountains, which act both as a watershed and as a dispersing agent to the breeze-carried moisture of the ocean, of which the benefits would be largely lost but for this natural barrier to its further progress inland. Pasturage is excellent and extensive in many parts, especially on the north and on the western boundaries, the high veld being particularly suitable for horses and cattle. The arable land not only bears mealies and good wheat, but also, in parts, sorghum, tobacco, tea, sugar, and fruit.
Now, when it is taken into consideration, along with the above facts, that Natal is in the agricultural and pastoral districts very thinly populated, and that the bulk of the white people are English, it would seem as though this were an ideal Colony for settlers from the Motherland; and so in a sense it might be. But, owing to unwise legislation and slack supervision, the best of the country land has been allowed to fall into Kaffir hands, and a vested right thus established, which the Colonial Government could only get over by compulsory sales, and that would mean trouble with the natives. By doing a very limited amount of stock-raising on their own account, these Kaffir proprietors are independent of whites, and being disproportionately undertaxed, they are fully satisfied with a lazy life. Thus the capacities of the finest areas of arable and pastoral country have never been tested. Leaving aside this first-quality land in native hands, the western frontier, Biggarsberg, and Ladysmith districts in Dutch possession, and the smaller area owned by British-born Natalians, there remains about 7,000,000 acres of Government-owned country. A considerable portion of this land ought to be available for white settlement, but the price asked is usually too high; that offered on perpetual lease by the Land Company is charged something like four times too much for the advantages offered. For this reason, coupled with the shortage and expense of labour—Natal Kaffirs are the most unwilling ​and incapable in the sub-continent—the Garden Colony does not lend itself to any extensive settlement schemes, such as could be financed and directed from England. The colonist stands to gain more in Rhodesia, for example, than in Natal, and so long as that is the case, all the chances in fruit and sugar which here offer, so to speak, from Nature itself, will not attract men who seek to do the best for themselves and their families.
It is worth noting, though, how extremely well one settlement in Natal turned out. Unfortunately, these immigrant farmers were not British, and foreigners can live in circumstances which do not commend themselves to English people. Economy was, however, in this case its own reward. Every penny gained in sale of produce was re-expended in the land—increasing its extent, fertilizing and renewing the soil, until many of the individual farmers started on their own, to become rich and prosperous agriculturists. The children of these German settlers have risen to be among the most influential men in Natal, and they are all loyal to the British Crown. When similar settlements have been attempted by English farmers they have usually proved abortive, because men have drifted away into town and commercial life, where money may, with luck, be more quickly made.
Individual settlers selecting Natal for their South African venture would be well advised to take up sugar cultivation, should their farm be within the sugar zone; while fruit farming is of excellent promise in almost every part. Bananas, pine-apples, and oranges can be grown in abundance, with comparatively little trouble, and a market exists in the neighbouring towns—especially of the Transvaal—while the export trade could be very readily built up, given more skilful packing and lower freights. The recent discovery in California of the remunerative by-industry connected with orange cultivation ought to give some impetus to the development of orange farming. Of every crop, a considerable proportion is generally waste from one ​cause or another; but henceforth the enterprising can turn this residue to account for fuel purposes. The peel of the orange contains a highly inflammable oil, by reason of which the fruit when washed, dried, and thoroughly baked, becomes an aromatic and easily kindled fire-lighter, entirely taking the place of wood. When recent experiments have been further developed, it is even hoped that orange fuel may supersede coal where the latter commodity is costly or difficult to obtain.
The best pastoral, like the best arable, land is already gone; but there are good areas capable of supporting all kinds of stock, including horses, and the cattle diseases, so prevalent in South Africa, are under better control than in any of the other four colonies, while the Government Veterinary Department is specially well directed and fully staffed. The large number of native land- and stock-owning neighbours with whom a white settler in any of the best districts would find himself surrounded must be accounted a serious drawback to colonization, for Kaffir morality is not of the most dependable and altruistic description, and in a land of few fences losses may arise in such circumstances which cannot very readily find correction.
Notwithstanding this, however, Natal is for English colonization preferable to
The Cape Colony.
This large area includes very great varieties of land that might in favourable circumstances be suitable for English settlers. But here, again, the best agricultural, and much of the best pastoral, country is already occupied by the Dutch, who are far stronger than in Natal. Native occupation (outside of the assigned territories and locations) is not nearly so much in evidence as in the Garden Colony, and would not greatly interfere with new colonists, though the tendency to leave the land to Kaffirs in the eastern districts and live on the rents is a very regrettable ​feature in the life of many old white residents. To allow natives to farm land once in white occupation and under modern tillage is distinctly to put the clock back. But for the new colonist this problem is not pressing. The absolutely best pasturage—that of the midlands—is fully occupied by the wool and mohair farmers of Dutch extraction, for the most part prosperous and successful men. Skilled sheep-farmers, accustomed to preparing wool for the market, might find an opening on the Karoo, and in time pull up the South African wool trade by grading and classifying their produce so that it reaches the London market in equally good condition with the Australian article. Australian wool is no better than African, but it arrives in London properly sorted, and thus commands ready sale at reasonable prices.
Apart from the price of land, the want of water is a very serious drawback to the Karoo settler—the more so that here, in common with most of the Cape Colony, large farms are essential even for small flocks, because the absence of water necessitates the provision of far more pasturage than would be required were it possible to irrigate the thirsty soil.
In the western districts, where arable land may still be had for cereal cultivation, settlement on any considerable scale is out of the question owing to the price asked for land. By reason of inferior farming methods the soil is partially exhausted, and therefore of far less value than virgin soil in Rhodesia and the fertile valleys of Natal, to mention but two alternatives; but the price is considerably higher, and has increased synchronously with the fall in actual value.
In certain parts of Cape Colony land may be obtained for fruit farming which ought to yield a profitable harvest for the capital expended in purchase. It must, however, be clearly premised that at the rates demanded only fruit cultivation, for which the soil is admirably suited, will pay. The uncertain returns on stock and cereal farming, the droughts and animal pests, make ​the price of these areas, not being the best land for such purposes, undesirable for ordinary crops or stock.
Three hundred pounds in the fruit district would give a skilful, hard-working fruit farmer a good start, with prospects of sound ultimate profits, and from the Imperial standpoint it would be difficult to overrate the advantages in the direction of political stability and progress which would accrue to the Colony by an increase in the English settlement of the agricultural districts, which are largely swayed by Dutch influence and tradition of a particularly retrograde and pernicious order. Apart from this consideration, and neglecting also the question of where the best opening occurs, English settlers will naturally gravitate towards the eastern districts, where they would find themselves among their own kin, the centre of a loyal British community, descendants of the 1820 settlers. Many excellent farms are available in this area, suitable to the mixed, unspecialized farming in which English agriculturists are most experienced and successful. Capital is, however, very necessary, for matured land in these parts fetches a high price; the best, indeed, as much as £5 per acre. It is true that veldt may also be had at no more than 5s. per acre; but the cultivation of such land is risky, and attended by heart-breaking discouragements. To sum up, there are settlement areas in Cape Colony of every variety, from first-rate to almost barren, but the price is relatively high, irrigation doubtful, and labour, though more plentiful than in Natal, a difficulty. It is undeniable that practically all the advantages (except English neighbours) can be attained elsewhere on much cheaper land, and that therefore it is difficult to contemplate colonization on any large scale.
Transvaal.
Coming now to the new Colonies, it was but natural that the great stretch of territory which we call the Transvaal should have been expected to form an ​excellent settlement for British population in process of redistribution. The obvious sequence to Vereeniging lay, it was supposed, in the introduction of a genuine stiffening of loyal Britons, a population that in me next generation might be so settled in the new home as to have become a part of the essential life of the country, and a protection against any possible recrudescence of Boer discontent. This dream does not, up to the present, show any signs of realization; and even if it be admitted that much blundering occurred over the attempts at colonization actually made, it should be frankly admitted that the failure was largely inevitable from causes inherent in the situation.
The Transvaal includes a very varied assortment of soils, climates, and agricultural possibilities. Now, whatever may be said of the old Boers, they certainly and admittedly were excellent judges of land; accordingly, when first the Voertrekkers scattered over the untilled Transvaal, they marked out at once the best districts, both agricultural and pastoral, and settled on them, so that to-day there is hardly an acre of really first-class value left for new colonists. If the high veldt and the industrial area be placed out of court, there remains the far less healthy middle and low veldt, where animal diseases play havoc with the stock during many months of the year. Yet this land is better adapted for the pastoralist than for the agriculturist. Cereal farming is quite possible, and may even yield from time to time a good harvest, though the violent storms, locusts, rust, and early frosts militate against the occurrence being frequent. But the cost of bringing the produce to market is so great, that to compete with the imported article means selling at a price which leaves little margin of profit even on a good harvest. Moreover, in the cereal districts the price of land is too high.
The Zoutpansberg district is practically Government land, and considerable opening does here offer for the English settler, especially if a railway be built from ​Pietersburg to tap this country. Until such connection is made, agricultural ventures present a good deal of risk, as already explained, but stock might be advantageously reared in this neighbourhood. The sub-tropical area in the Transvaal gives promise of opening for the specialist farmer. The districts round Rustenburg and Marico have already gained some reputation as tobacco centres; but here, as everywhere, the price of land is unduly inflated. The reason is, of course, not difficult to understand. So long as the mineral rights of a property are not separated from the surface rights, land is not sold at its agricultural or face value, but according to some fancy standard which covers the possibility of a mineral deposit being discovered thereon. This arrangement is intrinsically wrong; it reduces all colonization schemes to the level of a gamble in land, and it defeats its own ends. If a given area be auriferous, it has manifestly a considerable value to the miner and speculator, but none to the farmer, who buys with the object of cultivating or of stock-raising, and therefore, if he knew the property to be valuable mineralogically, he would prefer another area. On the other hand, if the said property carry no mineral, why should an unfortunate be compelled to pay an enhanced price for his farm? The solution may be found in the retention of all mineral rights by the Government or vending land company, while the farm itself is sold at its value as a productive area. Possibilities of advantageous settlement of English farmers would readily emerge were this initial error corrected, and the land priced at the same rate as like territory in Rhodesia.
Orangia.
The Orange River Colony—granary of South Africa—seems at first blush an ideal settlement area, because farming there undoubtedly approximates more closely to English conditions and methods than elsewhere on the sub-continent. But the Dutch farmers of Orangia ​form the pick of the Boer race, and therefore every farm of value has long been under cultivation, the agricultural land that remains for incoming settlers being either (a) second-class, (b) exhausted, and only unoccupied for that very reason. Moreover, land values are greatly enhanced since the war. Properties which six years ago could be purchased at 10s. the morgen, and cultivated, even at that rate, at practically no profit, are now only to be purchased at five times that price, which it requires no expert to explain could only mean cultivation at a dead loss.
The chief pastoral district to the north-east of the Colony is in every way suitable to the industry, but the prevalence of cattle disease, which can only be stamped out by the combined action of the various State Governments, makes stock-rearing to-day a risky business. If, however, the advice of the veterinary staff is accepted, and all the diseased stock slaughtered, the infected areas cleansed by the exclusion of cattle for fifteen months (the utmost limit of possible infection), and the system of fencing improved, Orangia will presently offer a suitable colonization area for the British settler.
Horse-rearing will, however, prove the most profitable undertaking for the farmer who is not an agriculturist, for there is great promise for the future in this stock. The Imperial Government, anxious to rear within the Empire all its own army beasts, offers encouragement to the breeder; and if a sufficient number of horses could be certainly relied upon annually, this encouragement will very properly take more definite and satisfactory shape. There can be no question that in cavalry, artillery, and service horses generally, our Empire, with its magnificent areas for breeding, should be entirely self-supporting. If war, unhappily, overtake this country again in the future, there need be no repetition of the Austrian remount scandals, of the enormous Argentine shipments; and it is the business of the British settler in breeding districts to think and act imperially upon this issue. Happily, there is little ​likelihood of his failing to do so, once the point is put before him plainly.
Land settlement in Orangia has been fairly successful, and at the present time several organizations are at work, of which the most noteworthy are the Imperial South African Association, the Duke of Westminster's scheme, and Lord Lovat's Colony. But an intending settler cannot do with a very small capital; for such colonists co-operation amounts to a necessity. If several small capitalists clubbed together, so as to provide a working capital, an excellent start might be made on one farm, each man devoting himself to some special branch, and the stock including horses, merino sheep, pigs, poultry, turkeys, and, if they can be protected from contact with other herds, cattle. Food for the animals and natives employed would be grown, of course, even if no other agriculture were attempted.
Rhodesia.
But there can be no question that of all South Africa the Colony for the British settler is Rhodesia. Not only is land infinitely cheaper, but the area suitable for colonization is very considerable, and there is no Dutch element in the political sense to rub up racial sentiment.
Stock-rearing, specialized cropping, and ordinary agriculture are all feasible severally or in combination. The agricultural country within touch with the railway extends every year, so that twenty or thirty years hence every considerable area may expect to be reached.
Rhodesia is for the most part well watered and fertile, and having come into the hands of the Chartered Company practically unoccupied, the objection noted in the other four Colonies, of the previous occupation of the pick of the land, is here non-existent. Large blocks of country, in fact, actually await and cry out for settlement. Most of this land is in the hands of the Administration, but various Rhodesian Land Companies own much property.
​At the outset only two classes of settlers can be regarded as really suitable—i.e.:
(a) Stock-farmers, including in the term dairy, pigs, and poultry;
(b) Small cultivators of specialized crops.
To both classes must be added the further limitation—a capital not less than £400 to £1,000.
Cereal farming, though the land admits of it, would not be profitable for the settler, because the local market is too small to make it worth while, and until freight is enormously reduced, cultivation for export to the Motherland, though it may one day be profitable, could only be carried on now at a dead loss. Many critics, looking for that fine ideal—an Empire self-supporting in foodstuffs—comment adversely on present discouragement of wheat cultivation in Mashonaland where the conditions are favourable. But, after all, economic laws govern even the supply of food. England will not pay a price above the ruling market-rate for wheat, because the consignment comes from Rhodesia; but at current rates the exporting farmer will lose money, and that arrangement would not be Imperialism, but folly.
Stock-farming is pre-eminently the industry of Matabeleland and the North-East province, and the country is extraordinarily healthy for cattle. But some years ago disease was imported from other Colonies and countries, and during two or three seasons the herds of healthy Rhodesia have been decimated by rinderpest, redwater, or African Coast fever. It is idle to deny that until more effective means are taken to eradicate, and then to protect efficiently against a recurrence of disease, Rhodesian stock-farming must remain risky. The process of clearing off the sick cattle, disinfecting the pasturage they occupied, and fencing the country will be a costly one, whether undertaken in its entirety by the Chartered Company to-day, or by a settlers' Government, responsible only to the Crown, presently; but it will have to be done, and then stock-farming will ​offer a magnificent opportunity to the British settler in Rhodesia.
Here it may be well to summarize the points to be observed in preparing this State for settlement—points really essential to successful colonization on a large scale:
1. Legislative action to include
(a) Compulsory fencing.
(b) Regulation and inspection of imported cattle.
(c) Scientific inspection and disinfection of railway trucks, and such instruction of the police as would enable them to recognise animal diseases.
(d) A seed and fertilizer Adulteration Act.
2. Departmental action covering compilation of soil maps, and detailed register of lands available for settlement.
Given these beginnings, the establishment of a settlement farm, which, financially supported at the outset by Government or a corporation, would speedily become self-supporting under skilled management, would prove a great aid to new colonists. This farm would include all branches of stock-rearing, and the culture of specialized crops—tobacco, cotton, rubber.
There is no doubt whatever that, taken as a whole, the pasturage of Rhodesia is superior to that of any other part of South Africa, and the Chartered Company does good service in supplying stock to settlers on advantageous terms. Allusion has been already made to the tick pest by which African Coast fever is spread. Investigations up to the present time have established that a tick does carry infection for six months after it has dropped from a sick beast, and cannot carry it beyond fifteen months. By working backwards and forwards from those two limits, the exact period of contagion—if the term be permissible in default of a better—will no doubt presently be authoritatively settled. The period of incubation of the fever is no less than thirteen ​days. These two facts together at once explain how enormous areas came to be infected from perhaps a small number of diseased imported cattle. These animals, as they trekked inland from the coast, dropped ticks along the route across which numerous other herds roamed, their owners unconscious of danger, and then in a dozen different localities wide apart the disease broke out. It is true that many districts are still clean, but the stock-farmer in an unfenced country can never be certain that his droves may not happen on a piece of tick-infected veldt, over which, perhaps, months before, a few sick cattle passed. The mischief, once compassed, is irremediable.
But this trouble, great as it is to-day, is not permanent; fencing and disinfection will follow the slaughter of the diseased cattle, and then there will be few countries in the world where the stock-breeder will have a better chance than in Rhodesia. Not only cattle, but donkeys, sheep, mules, goats, pigs, and poultry may all be farmed at a minimum of cost, so prolific is the fertile land of suitable pasturage and vegetable food.
For the small cultivator of specialized crops the outlook is equally bright—Mashonaland and the North-West afford him no less opportunity than Matabeleland provides for the stockman. Tobacco of excellent quality may be grown in many parts, and for this commodity, when the whole South African market is supplied, there remains an unlimited field in exportation. During the present season some 2,000 acres are under this cultivation, which represents, roughly, 2,000,000 pounds of tobacco. The last harvest at Enkledoorn realized £125 per acre (selling at wholesale price), and as the outlay per acre of tobacco averages, roughly, £14, it will be seen that, even at much lower returns than the above rather exceptional crop, the profit is very considerable. Tobacco, however, needs a certain amount of specialized knowledge on the part of the cultivator, both as to selection of plants, preparation of the ground, and harvesting. Above all, it is essential that the most ​modern and scientific methods of drying and curing the leaf be acquired by the settler who proposes to make of his industry a good thing for himself and the country. Cooperation must here, again, come into play, for the provision of necessary plant would entail very heavy outlay on the individual if he had to bear it alone. Moreover, no new settler is likely to cultivate on a sufficiently large scale to make effective sole use of such plant, even if he were able to provide it. A settlers' Government might very profitably to itself establish public tobacco factories, to which growers would resort; and this possibility goes still further in recommending Rhodesia for Imperial land settlement.
Cotton, easily cultivated, and providing by its 'residue' admirable winter forage for stock, would form a specialized crop peculiarly suitable for the pastoralist with some arable land, and the cotton planter would enjoy the further knowledge that his labour, profitable to himself and advantageous to his new Homeland, was also actively sustaining a great British industry, entailing the employment of thousands of his kith and kin in England. The British South Africa Company last year took a step calculated greatly to help the establishment of cotton culture in Rhodesia. Up to mid-December (the latest date for sowing cotton seed in this Colony) the Company supplied to every bona fide applicant cotton seed at the rate of 6 pounds to 1 acre, for as large an acreage as the settler was prepared to cultivate in accordance with the directions sent for that purpose. It further promised to purchase any resultant crop at the rate of ½d. per pound, carrying all such cotton free of charge to Salisbury, where it is to be ginned, packed, and despatched to England. The above rate would yield a profit of £1 17s. 6d. per acre.
Other specialized crops, on which there is not here space to dilate, offer equally favourable returns, and there is little doubt that for the Englishman of small capital, unable to prosper in the crowded Homeland, yet properly unwilling to go out from the British family, ​Rhodesia offers very exceptional opportunities in these directions. In making for himself a competence, and providing healthful surroundings for his family, the settler has a further satisfaction. He is, at the same time, building up the Empire, stimulating the circulation of Imperial blood, and forming, in the persons of himself and his children, so many fresh ties between the glorious historical past and the yet wider and more glorious future for which his brothers—English, African, Australian, Canadian; but British all—laid down their lives. Those who passed fearlessly into silence, yet speak to-day in this one word of the whole race—'Our Empire.'