On Saturday last the Daily Telegraph published a very interesting
and important communication from Mr. Rhodes (enclosing letters to Mr. Arnold-Forster and Lord Milner) dealing with the subject of placing British settlers on the land in the Orange and Transvaal Colonies. Mr. Rhodes, like all people who have given thought to the subject, dreads the idea of the rural districts being entirely given up to the Boers, while the British are concentrated in the towns. He tells us that after the Raid he himself bought up farms in the Stellenbosch district with the idea of inoculating a specially strong Dutch district with a British element, and placed on them men of British sympathies. The results have been excellent. The two races have not only mixed, but, what does not always follow, have learnt to respect each other. This process of inoculation Mr. Rhodes desires to see carried out on a large scale. As our readers know, we have always done our best to keep the settlement question before the public--on November 18th, 1899, or only a month after the war had begun, we set forth a scheme not unlike Mr. Rhodes's, though we admit one not supported by his local knowledge— and we therefore welcome the consideration of the proposals with great satisfaction. We must point out, however, that Mr. Rhodes's scheme is a very expensive one. According to him, nothing but the very best land will do for the settlers, and this land must be bought, as no good land is available with- out purchase. In all, each settler will require to be provided with some 24,000 capital for purchase of land and of stock. He proposes that the money necessary to start some four thousand or so of selected men should be raised by the Transvaal. Instead of putting war expenses on the Transvaal Colony, he suggests that they should undertake the responsi- bilities of such settlement
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