It is stated that a nugget of gold, forty-two pounds
in weight, has been discovered in Griqualand West. If that statement is correct, it means that rioh gold-fields have been discovered, that Griqualand is about to be colonised with a rush, and that the native question has ended once for all. Gold draws Englishmen and Americans as it once drew the Spaniards, and the next difficulty of the Colonial Office will be to secure the machinery of government from bursting under the pressure of the new wealth and population. Fortunately, the existence of gold ren- ders it possible to collect revenue, and therefore to pay troops and police. It is lucky, under such circumstances, that the legislative power is in the hands of the Crown, as it soon will be also in Natal, where Sir Garnet Wolseley, by a great display of tact and bonhomie, has induced the 1,500 settlers who there constitute the British population to allow the Crown to nominate half the Legislative CounciL Half is quite enough, as a measure which no settler will support is presumably either bad, or to much in advance of Colonial opinion.
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