THE COLONY OF NATAL.

Globe, Volume VI, Issue 616, 9 June 1876, Page 4

THE COLONY OF NATAL.

A London exchange says,. “The Natal Land Company are afraid that their estates will be confiscated by the Imperial Government, * The companyholds 620,000 acres of land in Natal, and there is no ground for saying that it does not administer its. property judiciously. There is always, however, a certain amount of evil in what the; Romans used to call ‘latifundia ’ or colossal - Financially speaking, these ‘latifundia’ were the ruin of Italy. The ‘metayer’ system,' where the landlord and the laborer halved their profits,’ worked much better. It appears also that in Natal much mischief is done by the concentration of land in the hands of large companies and , corporations. Emigrants are much wanted in Nataly and yet they refuse to come. Hence; a gentleman commissioned to inquire into this matter, Major Burton, has proposed that the Natal Land Company shall be rather heavily taxed, or that, as an alternative {dan, the Imperial authorities shall be gi’ven powers of t compulsory purchase. The company are aggrieved, and call the projected measure, confiscation; We scarcely knew what confiscation means. If it signifies anything it seems to stand for any measure which, while it benefits the public at large, is decidedly deleterious to some specified vested interest; A deputation from the company waited at the Colonial Office on Tuesday last, and gave the details of their gravamen, the chief spokesman being Mr H. Kimber. Lord Carnarvon denied categorically .that he had departed in any way from his duty as Secretary for the Colonies, or that he had ever refused to hear the comPrevious Governments have proposed to do what the Colonial Office are now con* templatihg. The idea, is to provide that a limited proportion of small forms, say of 200 or 300 acres, should be let to emigrants. As Lord. Carnarvon observed, the difficulty in Natal is father civil than. military There are 350,000 OaSree on the bonier. The Europeans arp, therefore, in great peril, and if a general massacre or the establishment of a Caffre colony is.to be avoided, there must be a“ humbier of advanced military outposts. Therefore it is proposed to tax the Natal Land Company, for the good both of Nathl and of the Empire, There is no imputation of and no desire to fine the, company needlessly, or punish its shareholders by forfeiture. Even should the p' an of compulsory purchase be adopted, 1 ■ f t. p : Natal Land Company .remember *’ nr> j CT the Imperial Land Clauses Or ..vlu A„ ( , commonly caned the 1 L ' n ™ acre of English laud is ’’ . ul °f-, Actp ’ ev * T J under certain con'*' * confiscation water, gasUor t- - itlons - at the demand of rr . *ilway companies."