Page:Morel-The Black Mans Burden.djvu/66

 The crushing of the rebellion by the Imperial authorities was attended by great loss of native life and by many terrible incidents, amongst others the dynamiting of the caves in which the Mashonas had taken refuge. For a long time after the back of the rebellion had been broken battues took place all over the country and executions were constant. "When I was in Rhodesia," wrote Mr. Thomson, "native Commissioners and police were out in every direction hunting down these unhappy wretches. Many had already been executed, both in Buluwayo and Salisbury, and the prosecutions were still going on."

Since these events took place the Chartered Company, basing its claim to "unalienated" land, in part upon the Lippert concession, which, as already stated, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council has now declared to be "valueless" for that purpose, and in part upon military conquest, has pursued the policy of treating the land of Southern Rhodesia as though it had passed entirely out of native ownership and had become the property of the Company's shareholders. It has divided the land into two main categories, "alienated" and "unalienated." Land in the occupancy and ownership of white men is called "alienated" land. Any native living on "alienated" land pays the white occupant and owner £1 per annum, and a further £1 per annum to the Company as head tax. "Unalienated" land is the land not in the occupancy and ownership of white men, and includes the native "Reserves." Natives living in the Reserves pay £1 per head per annum to the Company as tax. Natives living on "unalienated" land outside the Reserves pay £1 per head per annum to the Company as tax, and another £1 per head for the privilege of living where they do. Portions of this "unalienated" land outside the Reserves can, apparently, be taken over at any moment by individual white men, provided, of course, that they obtain the Company's sanction. The natives living on such acquired portions are then expected to pay £1 per head per annum to the white acquirer, plus the £1 per head they already pay to the Company. The logic of the amazing situation thus created would seem to be this: There would appear to be no obstacle to my, or to any of my readers, going to the Chartered Company's offices