Page:Last Will and Testament of Cecil Rhodes.djvu/172

158 extension of railways will be undertaken when the country warrants it, apart from the Charter. When, therefore, I came home, and was spoken to about the question of an increase of capital, I, after a careful consideration, thought it would be an unwise thing to submit to the shareholders. We are practically paying our way, and we shall keep our Chartered capital at £2,000,000; and I cannot see in the future any reason which would cause us to increase it. If the country is a failure, we had better not increase it; and if the country is a success, it will not be wanted.

“Now, we have dealt with the question of what we possess, what it has cost us, and our present financial position, and you might next very fairly say, What are the prospects? Well, looking at that question, I can only say that I have been through the country, and from an agricultural point of view I know it is a place where white people are going to settle. It is good agricultural country. As to climate, it is asked by some whether it is not a fever country. It is nothing of the kind. It is a high healthy plateau, and I would as soon live there as in any part of South Africa. Towards the Portuguese territory and in some parts of the low country the climate is unhealthy, and the same applies to the country just on the Zambesi; the high plateau, however, is perfectly healthy. You may therefore say that you have a country where white people can live and be born and brought up, and it is suitable for agriculture; but of course the main point we must look to, in so far as a return to our shareholders is concerned, is the question of the mineralisation of the country. I have said once before that out of licences and