The record-union., 1897-05-22
During the Examination Of Rutherford
Harris.
by Henry Labouchere,
Published in "Truth," Charging
the Accused With Being in League
With Others to Precipitate a Raid
in Order to Deal in Securities
of the South Africa Company,
Branded as Malicious FalSeh0Ods.

LONDON, May 21.-There was
dramatic scene to-day in the commit
tee-room of Westminster Hall. The
Parliamentary Commission on the
Transvaal raid held another session,
and in the course of the examination
of Rutherford Harris, the former Sec
retary of the British Chartered South
Africa Company at Cape Town, by
Henry Labouchere, the witness was
asked whether he had ever heard of
the syndicate organized for the pur-
pose of dealing in the securities of the
Chartered Company.
Mr.. Harris replied: II am glad you
put that question. I have given you
a long time to prove the charges you
made against me-"
Then, turning to the Chairman, Mr..
Harris read an extract from Mr.. La
bouchere's speech in the House of Com
mons on May 8, 1896, and an extract
from Truth" of May ), 1896, as fol-
lows: The main object of the raid was
to annext the rich mining districts OF
the Transvaal to Rhodesia. 1t is OBJ
vious that the first news of the raid
would cause fall in shares. 1 am pre-
pared to prove that syndicate was
formed just prior to the raid, including
a leading director (Mr. Harris was a
director of the company as we'll as It's
Secretary at Cape TOWN. in and one of
the chief officials of the British Char
tered South Africa Company, for the
purpose of making large bear sales. The
seed thus having been sown for secur-
ing a profit by the immediate fall and
ultimate profits by buying when the
raid was successful, and a rich slice or
the Transvaals had been added to the
charter lands, steps were taken to
carry out the conspiracy.
The trend of the cryptograms shows
that there was a divergence of opinion
between the Rhodes Cecil Rhodes and
his brother Francis) and Alfred Befts,
representatives among the former, ana
that they are not connected with the
gang that is responsible for the failure
of the scheme These kilograms are
damaging alike to the Charter Com
pany and to Mr. Rhodes. 1t is clear
that the raid was planned by Cecil
Rhodes and Alfred Belts, the Secre-
tary of the Chartered South Africa
Company.
THE telegram Hammond John Hays
Hammond, the American engineer)
sent to Rhodes, saying, Cannot arrange
respective interests without Belt shows
that the aim was purely for stock
exchange deal. These mlscreants'
therefore, planning a raid which must
have led to their death, and which
was based on robbery, were actually
already disputing in regard to their re-
spective shares of the plunder.
Truth then compared Cecil Rhodes
to Jabez Balfour, "the first statesman
to apply to imperial politics the meth
DDS of the shady company promoter"
and concluded as follows: Had Cecil
Rhodes remained as Premier Of Cape
Colony, 1 am convinced that as soon
as it suited his purpose he would nave
turned on us (the British Government,
and would have sought to cut the chain
which binds us to South Africa"
After concluding reading, Mr.. Harris
turned to the Chairman and begged
him to call upon Mr.. Labouchere to JUS
tify his statements, which" Mr.. Har-
ris added, ARE absolutely and maiic-
iously false, and untrue"
There was a moments silence, during
which the members of the commission
looked curiously at Mr.. Labouchere.
Then the latter said in a subdued voice:
I'm order to give proof, l shall have
to call a number of stockholders be-
fore the commission"
The Secretary of State for the Col
onies, Joseph Chamberlain, thereupon
sharply remarked: Il think it impor-
tant that you should do So
Replying to Sir Richard Webster, the
Attorney General, Mr. Harris reiterated
that Mr.. Labouchere's statement was
untrue from beginning to end.
The witness next read an abstract
from the "Gaulois,' written last week,
and signed by Mr. Labouchere. making
similar charges to those contained in
the article in Truth"
Mr.. Labouchere said he was prepared
to prove the charges.
The committee room was cleared in
order to allow the committee to discuss
the matter
On resuming the case, the Chairman
said he thought Mr.. Harris position in
the suit must be wholly satisfactory to
him, and the whole matter was then