come connected
with the oldest Colony in South Africa. In any other continent the
opening of five hundred miles of new railway would be fittingly
celebrated by the usual banquet and the after-dinner felicitations of
those directly concerned with it; but in this instance there are six
members of the Imperial Parliament, the High Commissioner of the Cape,
the Governor of Natal, scores of members of the Colonial Legislatures,
and scores of notabilities, leaders of thought and action, bankers,
merchants, and clergy from every colony and state in the southern part
of this continent. They all felt it to be a great event. Few events of
the century surpass it in interest and importance. It marks the
conclusion of an audacious enterprise, which less than ten years ago
would have been deemed impossible, and only two years ago as most
unlikely. It furnishes a lesson to all colonising nations. It teaches
methods of operation never practised before. It suggests large and
grand possibilities, completely reforms and alters our judgment with
regard to Africa, effaces difficulties that impeded right views, and
infuses a belief that, once the political and capitalist public realises
what the occasion really signifies, this railway is but the precursor of
many more in this continent. In fact, we have been publicly told that
we are to expect others, and that the railway to the Victoria Falls of
the Zambesi is the next on the programme.

AN EMBRYO STATE "FAIRLY STARTED INTO EXISTENCE."

The Rudd-Rhodes Concession was granted by Lo Bengula in 1888. The
Charter to the South Africa Company was given in 1889; possession of
Mashonaland was taken by Jameson and his pioneers on September 12th,
1890; Bulawayo was entered in 1893, and thus the Lo Bengula Concession
grew to be Rhodesia. Only four years ago! But during this brief
interval the advance has been so rapid that, though at home people may
vaguely believe in it, one has to see the town of Bulawayo and to come
in personal contact with its people to fully comprehend what has been
done, and to rightly understand the situation. With the clearer view
gained by a personal visit the huge map in the Stock Exchange, which
shows the estates, farms, townships, and mines of Rhodesia, becomes an
encyclopaedia of information--the plans of Bulawayo and Salisbury, and
other towns which have arisen in Rhodesia, valuable directories. If
fresh from an inspection and study of these you step out an