THE FUTURE OF RHODESIA.

Mt Benger Mail, Volume 17, Issue 850, 22 August 1896, Page 3

THE FUTURE OF RHODESIA.

11l the course of a speech to the people of Buluwayo, Mr Rhodes said his aspirations for the settlement of Rhodesia could never have been realised unless the people had carried out his ideas. The history of Matabeleland was a repetition of that of Mashonaland, but the inhabitants were within measurable distance of success. The railway from the south would be completed with all possible speed. The Cape authorities were forwarding the rails at the rate of one mile per day, and the metals would be laid as fast as they were sent. He did not think it possible to complete the line within the year, but it might possibly reach Palapye by that time. He expressed confidence as to the results of the development of the mines. He deplored the long list of dead and wounded. Never in the history of the Cape had the Kaffirs returned so often to the charge after being defeated. When the Matabele were subjugated, Sir Frederick Carrington and Sir Richard Martin would select sites for permanent forts. He was surprised that the farmers of Matabeleland had done so well prior to the outbreak of rinderpest. That disease might come but once in a century, and, with what was admitted to be the finest grazing country in the world, the future prosperity of the farmers was assured. As to compensation, the action of the Chartered Company was creditable. The Cape had always refused compensation for war, but the present position of Matabeleland Mas unprecedented. Every elective body in the neighboring States had been discussing and settling the future of Rhodesia without reference to the Rhodesians, and without considering that the Rhodesians had a voice in the matter. Comparing the country to the settlements of the Niger and East Africa, Mr Rhodes said he attributed the failure of those dependencies to the fact that the climate there necessitated the population being wholly native; whereas on the completion of the railway Rhodesiamust become thickly peopled by white settlers. If he were allowed to remaiu at work with them he looked in the future for the charter to lapse and for the people to become self-governing. This could be consummated without hurt to the shareholders. He ridiculed the idea of amalgamation with the Transvaal or annexation to the Cape of possessions not bounded by the Zambesi. Five years hence probably the most valuable portion of the country would be recognised as lying to the north of that river. It rested with the people to cooperate with him and carry out his schemes. At present the population was too small for self-government, but representation in the Legislative Council was an intermediate stage to their ultimate object. It was impossible for the charter to remain for ever with a white community, but when the settlement of the country was first mooted the Crown and Cape alike rejected the task, and his solution of a charter was adopted. He thought the people there would never be governed from Cape Town, and advised them always to be looking to their future as an independent State, and to keep in their hearts the idea of free trade and of speedy communication with the Cape. The Cape laws, with certain amendments, were the best for this country, and he also advised in the near future a system of joint defence, which, summed up, would mean Federation. Recause of the unfortunate circumstances which had occurcd he did not change one statement or one idea made or expressed by him in the Cape House of Assembly. His policy had always been self-government in the north, and if he had a say in the country his policy would never chaDge. He would be a very small human being if lie altered the ideas of a lifetime. He hoped the people would support him in that policy, and that they would be prepared to receive the ideas conceived by him as to the mode of self-government and the means of making Rhodesia one of the States of South Africa. __