28 JANUARY 1905, Page 19

We note with satisfaction the announcement that Mr. H. Rider

Haggard has been nominated by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to proceed to the United States to inquire into and report upon the conditions and character of the agricultural and industrial land settlements formed there by the Salvation Army for the reception of immigrants from the great cities of the United States. Mr. Rider Haggard has for several years devoted his energies in a most public- spirited manner to exhaustive inquiries into the conditions of agriculture in this country, his competence for the task entrusted to him is above question, and he is sincerely to be congratulated on this well-merited official recognition of his patriotic and disinterested exertions.