French colonial administration is perfectly poisoned with jobbery, French politicians
declaring almost openly that the
true use of colonies is to furnish appointments for deserving persons and concessions for friendly capitalists. One reason for the removal of M. Laroche from his post as Governor- General of Madagascar was that he had granted the right of building a railway from Tamatave to Antananarivo, to an Englishman. M. Laroche has now arrived at Port Said, and he declares to the agent of Le Temps there that there were two offers before him. M. Daportal, of Paris, offered to build the line if France guaranteed 34 per cent. on 22,000,000 for ninety years, while M. de Coriolis, a French colonist of the Mauritius, offered to build it without pecuniary guarantees of any kind. His offer was, herefore, accepted. The line, added M. Laroche, could not pay as a commercial speculation. The result, of course, will be that the line will be built by a French company, that France will be burdened with a guarantee of £70000 a year for three generations, and that somebody or other in Paris will make a considerable fortune. In England that would be considered rank jobbery, in France it is "fruitful patriotism."
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