SETTLEMENT IN EAST AFRICA.
[To TEE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTITOlt."1
Ste,—My letter to the Press in November has brought me much correspondence and some criticisms. It is a somewhat curious coincidence that at the time that letter was written in England, a Government Commission out here, composed of high officials and experienced planters, recommended the same minimum capital, viz., E500. To win through on that amount men must work hard, live hard, and abstain altogether from drink. Can such men be found? If so, the following facts should be noted by them : Coffee after four years, taking an average of years, returns more than £10 an acre. The average cost of bringing an acre of coffee into bearing, exclusive of coat of land and supervision, is less than £10 an acre. Flax has not been so fully developed, but a Mount Eisen .planter tells me that his flax realized £280 a ton, that it took less than ten acres to produce a ton, and that the total expenses, not counting cost of land and supervision, were .4280 per ten; also that he had ploughed up sixty acres of promising young coffee to plant flax, the return being quicker. Capitalists; are realizing the profits to be made here, and notwithstanding a 12 per cent, currency rate, money will be pouring in. Large syndicates are employ- ing native labour by hundreds. Labour at present is falling off, but it is hoped that this is a matter that will improve. My chief reason for writing this letter is to plead for con- sideration for the men with small means. Let me impress on such men that there is no great hurry. Besides the thousands of farms already surveyed there ars huge game reserves— through one the railway already passes—and others not too remote are admirably suited for coffee, flax, and wheat; also there are other parts of this glorious cordinent which offer wealth to the hard-working and self-denying Man.—I am, Sir,
KITCHENER OF KHARTOEBI (Colonel).
Mombasa P.O., British East Africa, March 20th.
P.S.—Any one wishing for further particulars should write 11 the Clayton Printing Press, Chesham, Bucke, for A Patriotic Road to Wealth, price 6d.
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