It was announced on Tuesday that Mr. Chamberlain intends to
start in the middle of November for South Africa, where he will remain nearly three months, returning to England about the beginning of March. Mr. Chamberlain, accompanied by Mrs. Chamberlain, will sail on H.M.S Good Hope,' the first-class cruiser built by the Admiralty at a cost of nearly a million in response to the annual subsidy of .230,000 a year voted by the Cape, and lately increased to 250,000. It is the cruiser's first commission, but there is every reason to believe that she will prove a swift and steady boat. Wehave expressed elsewhere our belief that Mr. Chamber- lain's visit is due to a wise decision on his part to get first-
band knowledge ; but we have also thought it necessary to point out to the publics that they must not give way to the notion that a man cannot be a statesman unless he is also an Empire-trotter. That is an entire delusion. No man is worthy to be a British statesman unless he realises the full nature of the Empire; but this can be achieved without a personal visit to all the Colonies.
Previous page
