Evening star., 1923-10-06
|BY THE MARaU1sE DE FoNTENoY.

BIZ THE MAHQC1SE DE FONTENOYs
Much Of the empire building Of the
British empire has been accomplished.
not by the agency of the govern
ment, or by the state. but by char
tered companies. It Is to the old East
India Company that England Is in
debted for the acquisition through
conquest, purchase and treaty, and,
in one word. for the possession of
her vast Indian empire. with its popu-
lation of more than 400. 100000 and its
incalculable wealth. It was built up
through the enterprise Of this COM
pany, working under a royal char
ter, during nearly two centuries. DIT
by bit and step by step. until. Just
q little over six decades ago. after
the great Sepoy mutiny, or native in
surrection. its possession and control
was taken over by the crown. In
the same way the huge Dominion Of
Canada, greater In area than the
United States, q land OF boundless
possibilities and Of actual and poten-
tial wealth, was added to the British
fundamentally Of the royal char
tered Hudson Bay Company. British
Nigeria, with its area of more than
half a million square miles and its
population of some 20.000,000 natives.
was added to the British empire by
q chartered copcern known as the
Royal Niger Company, and within the
last few weeks the hugo tract of
territory, extending from the Trans
vaal province to the borders of the
Belgian colony OF Kongo, known as
Rhodesia, covering an area Of 4oo..
the richest regions OF the dark con-
tinent, and which owes its existence
to the royal chartered company Of
Rhodesia, founded q little over thirty
and bearing his name. has just passed
quietly from the company into the
Possession of the crown as self
governing colony of the British EN-.
pire.
RAodesia's Great wealth.
Rhodesia is already famous for its
mineral wealth and for its extraordi-
nary agricultural possibilities. 1t Is
six times the size Of England. Save
for the payment Of about t2o.ooe.ooo.
as representing the value Of the pub
tered company viii receive no money
for the transfer Of the north and
southern Rhodesia to the state, which
now becomes the owner Of all un-
alienated lands ana mineral rights
Which II sss tho IN
chartered company invested In the
development OF the territory. The
returns were voluntarily foregone by
the stockholders on the ground OF
pa.siotism They ~oala assas say we to ane sns
doing q great imperial work and you
needn't worry any more than we do
about the matter of dividends" pur-
suing, in this particular, the very
same policy a. that adopted BY the
shareholders In the former British
great has been the beneit and ad-
vantage to Great Britain OF these
Chartered companies In building up
the great British empire. In acquiring
then tarning them ever to the crown
~ \ whole, free OF cost, that enc ID
Inclined 20 ash whether Alaska would
not have proved more profitable to
the United States II her development,
r. en- nos to
company working on the lines OF
those to which the British crown is
Indebted for the possession Of her
overseas dominions and common
wea1tho.
Sir HumpArey Mackwerth.
Sir Humphrey Mackwerth has not
remained single very long For. al
though his fnasterfui and enormously
rich wife, viscountsss RhonddA In
her own right. only secured the final
decree OF divorce from him a. few
weeks aEo, on the ground of deger-
tion, he has Just contracted smother
marriage, this time with Miss Doro-
~ IleWeiiyn. who, ~ Indicated By
~ nanN q Wulsh Sir Hu0phfo5