In the late War we regretted the necessity, in which
we were bound to acquiesce, of ending the truce with German missionaries whom Great Britain had tried to allow to carry on their good work in India and Africa in spite of their enemy nationality. We have been very acutely reminded of this by the Sharp controversy that has arisen between the Colonial Office and the Common- wealth Trust. Not the least shocking matter is that the Directors, a select body of serious men, have in effect accused the Colonial Office publicly of dishonesty. The outline of the troubled story is this. The Basel Trading Company was founded on the theory (demanding more care in operation than any other) of "religion and philanthropy at 5 per cent." It was to trade with a limited profit to shareholders, which is one way of im- proving the material state of such people as the natives of the Gold Coast ; that there was no humbug about it is shown by a self-denying ordinance against trading in alcohol. All further profits were to go to the Basel Mission which initiated the Trading Company. The Mission received large sums and spent them well on the natives' spiritual welfare.
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