coming from the Premier of the
Cape Colony, requires no comment from me, beyond the expression of my
satisfaction at its having been made.

[Illustration: Decorative]

COLONISATION.

Colonisation is a subject on which I wish to say a few words. The
definition given by Adam Smith of the three elements of national wealth,
"Land, Labour, and Capital," cannot be too often repeated. How to blend
them in proper proportions, is a problem, which has puzzled generations
of statesmen, philosophers, and philanthropists. I have always been a
warm advocate for colonisation. It appears to me to be a question of
such supreme national importance, that I think it ought to be undertaken
by the State. This, of course, means, that it is possible, as it is
undoubtedly indispensable, to get a Government to act wisely and well.
In order to have a chance of its being successful, colonisation must be
conducted on sound principles and practice.

In South Africa I have seen millions of acres of fertile land--in
Bechuanaland, in Natal, in the Eastern and Western provinces of the Cape
Colony, to say nothing of the Transvaal--capable of supporting many
thousands of our surplus population. But I have also satisfied myself,
that it is no use whatever to transplant those, who are unfitted for it.
Instead of a success, certain failure will be the result of an attempt
so unwise. Colonial life is alone suitable for the enterprising,
energetic, steady, and industrious men, and women, who are determined,
with patience and courage, to overcome the difficulties and trials,
which they must certainly encounter on the road to ultimate success.
South Africa is a land of promise for them. It is by no means so for
the feeble, the self-indulgent, the helplessly dependent class, of whom,
unfortunately, we have so large a number in the over-populated Old
Country. Cordial co-operation with the self-governing colonies is also
absolutely indispensable to ensure success in any national system of
colonisation. It is equally essential that a strict selection of the
right sort of people should be made. According, too, to their positions
in life, they must be provided with sufficient means to support them on
their first arrival, while they are settling themselves, and their crops
are growing, and they are acquiring knowledge, of the natural conditions
of the new land, to which they have been transplanted.

These are the principles necessary to be observed in any