29 FEBRUARY 1896, Page 2

Sir Francis Scott, who commanded the expedition to Coomassie, and

who has such expelience of the Coast, is optimist as to the future of the country. Coomassie, he says, can be made healthy, the place beirg situated on a ridge of rocks 600 ft. above the plain. It will be connected with the coast by a railway ; and now that the Ashantee menace is removed, there will be a rapid development of trade. The whole Colony will become more healthy as the grass is cut down. The smaller chiefs are inclined to obedience, and Samory remains distinctly friendly to the British, "as he has always been." The Colony will, in fact, become a valuable tropical possession, and we may hope, though Sir F. Scott does not say so, that the negroes, released from their bloodthirsty dynasty, will become quiet cultivators, and at all events learn to regard murder as an inconvenient and objectionable practice. Pretnpeh will, it is obvious, remain a State prisoner, and the temperance societies will rejoice to

hear that while treated with every kindness in other respects, his allowance of gin is strictly limited.