THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 1906.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8213, 17 August 1906, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 1906.

Afrioa in these-days is all divided np among the Powers, but we are apt to forget how recent the [partition has been. In 1880 France had Algeria and Britain had the Gape, but beyond thes« possessions the only European administrations in the Continent were those of France in [Senegambia and on the Gold Coast, those of Portugal in Angola and Mozambique, those of Britain on the Gold (Joast, and, of course, those of Turkey. The soramble for territory had ' hardly commenced. Fifteen jears later there was hardly a square mile left to be coveted. Sir Percy Girouard, whu discusses the question in "Sonbuer's Magazine," tells us that by 1895 France had become the r.osI sessor of 3,300,000 square miles of territory, 1,600,000 of which lay in the Great Sahara Desert; Great Britain of 22,00,000; Germany a newI comer, of nearly 1,000,000; Italy,

also a new arrival, of 550,000, including a doubtfully resigned claim upon Abyssinia; Spain, of 150,000; the three free States or Kepublios— Liberian, Belgian, and Afrikander Dutch—of 1,150/100. The oldest colonisers, Turkey and Portugal, claimed 2.200,000 and 825,000 square miles respective!?. European Powers had thus a total in all of 11,370,000 square miles, leaving the poor little fraction of 230,000 unallotted, of which 70,000 lay iu the great lakes and most of the remainder in the balance of boundary commissions. By 1905 Britain, in annexing the South African Republics and establishing with Egypt a joint control of the Soudan, added 800,000 to her total; and with her practical control of the destinies of Egypt itsel", is to-day the virtual ruler over some 3,300,000 square miles. "No partition of such a vast portion of the world's surface," says Sir Percy Girouard, "had evor taken place in so short a space of time, nor any one of even approaching magnitude, without severe and bloody human struggles. Britain had undoubtedly secured the lion's share, or perhaps the only share in which men of European descent oould Jive and prosper materially and jpbysioally."