Page:The empire and the century.djvu/612

 likelihood of his failing to do so, once the point is put before him plainly.

Land settlement in Orangia has been fairly successful, and at the present time several organizations are at work, of which the most noteworthy are the Imperial South African Association, the Duke of Westminster's scheme, and Lord Lovat's Colony. But an intending settler cannot do with a very small capital; for such colonists co-operation amounts to a necessity. If several small capitalists clubbed together, so as to provide a working capital, an excellent start might be made on one farm, each man devoting himself to some special branch, and the stock including horses, merino sheep, pigs, poultry, turkeys, and, if they can be protected from contact with other herds, cattle. Food for the animals and natives employed would be grown, of course, even if no other agriculture were attempted.

But there can be no question that of all South Africa the Colony for the British settler is Rhodesia. Not only is land infinitely cheaper, but the area suitable for colonization is very considerable, and there is no Dutch element in the political sense to rub up racial sentiment.

Stock-rearing, specialized cropping, and ordinary agriculture are all feasible severally or in combination. The agricultural country within touch with the railway extends every year, so that twenty or thirty years hence every considerable area may expect to be reached.

Rhodesia is for the most part well watered and fertile, and having come into the hands of the Chartered Company practically unoccupied, the objection noted in the other four Colonies, of the previous occupation of the pick of the land, is here non-existent. Large blocks of country, in fact, actually await and cry out for settlement. Most of this land is in the hands of the Administration, but various Rhodesian Land Companies own much property.