The correspondents of the Daily Telegraph continue to send alarming
telegrams from Rhodesia. Telegraphing on Tuesday, the Bulawayo correspondent declares that the Mafeking road "appears to be closed," that fifteen hundred friendlies have revolted, that the people are living on tinned meats, that all building contracts have been cancelled, and that "most of the population are preparing to leave." The news from Salisbury and Fort Charter is also said to be very bad. It is further stated that Sir F. Carrington is preparing an early general attack, but, adds the correspondent, "our forces are certainly
inadequate." Another telegram from Fort Figtree declares that more than half the Afrikander Corps have left the .country "on account of the non-fulfilment of the promise of the Chartered Company in reference to land grants." For- tunately there is good reason to believe that all this excited and alarmist telegraphing is much exaggerated, and that the situation is in reality improving, not growing worse. Those in a position to know the facts declare that the armed force . on the spot is quite adequate to deal with the rebellion, and that there is no ground for uneasiness. Meantime it is interesting to note that " Willoughby's Syndicate" has bought a farm six miles out of Bulawayo for £7,500. Let us hope that the natives will hear of and understand the trans- action, and that the effect upon them will be as depressing as it was on the Carthaginians when they heard that the land on which Hamaibal's tent stood had been sold by auction Rome "at normal rates."
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