11 JULY 1896, Page 3

It was announced on Monday that a peerage is to

be con- ferred on Sir Hercules Robinson. The honour is well deserved, and we are glad to think that it does not mark the close of a useful career, for the Governor of Cape Colony, it is stated, will return to South Africa. A propos of Sir Hercules Robinson, the St. James's Gazette tells a curious story. In 1877, while Sir Hercules was in South Africa, he rode with Sir Theophilus Shepstone across the Witwatersrand. Judging by what he had seen in Australia, Sir Hercules exclaimed to

his companion : " There is gold under there." At that time the existence of gold in the Transvaal was undreamt of.