ROMANCE OF THE CHARTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 260, 2 November 1935, Page 6 (Supplement)

ROMANCE OF THE CHARTERS.

(By BASIL FULLER.)

(No. V.)

IT is not given to many men to leave their names to a country, but the

distinction has been pre-eminently that of Cecil Rhodes. Many changes have taken place since his work began, but the country named after him stands as his lasting monument.

Any mention of the chartered company to-day refers to the British South Africa Company. It is the familiar term by which "this company is known on the stock exchange and world over. The chartered company is one of the last survivors—perhaps the last —of that group of trading enterprises which have done so much to build up the Empire. It is only recently that the British South Africa Company gave up its administrative and colonising work. It is now purely a commercial concern. As its contribution to the Empire it has left behind two settled estates. Southern Rhodesia now has its own responsible government, and Northern Rhodesia is a Crown protectorate. To get the position of the British South Africa Company in its true perspective it is necessary to grasp the distinction between the two great eras of the chartered companies. Each stood for a period of important commercial expansion, but the idea of territorial gain or Empire building did not at first enter into their programmes. It was largely accidental that they became builders of Empire. Two Outstanding Periods. There are two outstanding periods of development in hitherto virgin territories. In the early part of the seventeenth century the direction was towards America and the East. The old chartered companies were granted monopolies and were allowed to assume sovereign powers. But their main aim was trade and not Empire. The famous East India Company is the best known of these older enterprises. How it founded an Empire almost by accident has been told in another instalment. The second group of chartered companies belongs to the end of the nineteenth century. Colonisation had been proceeding apace, and the empty spaces of the world were being rapidly filled. Only Africa remained as the unknown country. It was inevitable that the trend of. commercial exploitation should turn in this direction. The charters granted to the new companies varied in their terms from those of the early enterprises. They gave no exclusive monopoly, and delegated no sovereign authority. The rights of natives were safeguarded in various directions. The British South Africa Company is the best known in the group formed in the early 'eighties. The others were the Royal Niger Company and the Imperial British East Africa Company, both of which had been absorbed hy the Government. "The Pick of Central Africa." . Rhodesia, "the pick of "Central Africa," as a French agent regretfully described it, was to remain in obscurity from the clays of the Queen of Sheba until the days of Victoria. The one was Queen of "a great Arabian Empire, the other of an Empire comprising a great part of the world.

"And Hiram sent in the navy of his servants, shipment that had some knowledge of the sea with the servants of Solomon. And they came to Ophir and fetched from thence gold, 420 talents and brought it to King Solomon." The reference in the book of Kings is to Rhodesia, for Ophir is this country. The "420 talents" of gold came from the mines of King Solomon, gold that was to impress the Queen of Sheba.

In 1880 Queen Victoria granted a charter to the British South Africa Company to develop the regions of South-Central Africa. The company was to construct telegraph lines, to link the Cape to Egypt, encourage emigration and construct railways. Behind, this project was Cecil Rhodes," the greatest Empire builder the' world has ever known. His great goal was to create a chain of British possessions from the Cape to Cairo and then to link them up with railways and .telegraph. This vast ambition has-been realised. What would this man', say and think could he travel on the. Cape air mail! Rhodes' Genius and Driving Force. The charter granted the company with Rhodes as driving force lost no time in getting to work. By 1890 a pioneer expedition had left to open the country. They were about 700 in number and they trekked over hitherto virgin country a distance of 400 miles; outspanning the great ox wagons. The occupation of this new region was effected without loss of a single life, and "without the necessity of firing a shot." Once the expedition had arrived at its destination at Salisbury the police force of five hundred pegged out their claims in the rich gold-bearing country. They saw the remains of ancient shafts dotted here and there about the country. With the aid of native labour they set about making a road to these gold deposits, permission being granted by the chieftain of the Matabele, King Lobengula. King Lobengula fled north as his ancestors had done and the company found itself in possession of 450,000 square miles of territory, much of which was healthy uplands, suitable in climate for white colonisation. The administration of this vast tract of country was founded by Rhodes and in tribute to him and his wonderful work the country was called Rhodesia. In 1890 Rhodes was in London and •he heard that once again the natives were in rebellion. He could see his life work toppling. No one knew his abilities better than himself and he knew that if he did not go out the company would lose Rhodesia. He made one of those dramatic dashes that can only be made by men of unusual decision and courage. Arrived in Rhodesia, he found the settlers had drawn their wagons up in a circle and were surrounded by 10,000 Zulu warriors. At nightfall he crept, through the enemy lines to the "laager." Soon he led the settlers out and won the Zulus to prompt submission. He drove the railway towards Bulawayo, accomplishing 230 miles of track in .the extraordinary time of five months. _ He established courts of law and schools. Such ■was this amazing man. "■' '' ; • - ' A Six Years' " Miracle." "Six years had passed since the company had been given its charter. In these six years the company had had'

The British South Africa Company.

] two native risings and the scourge of rinderpest, which kills the livestock in choir hundreds. The company was in possession with settled government of ■150,000 square miles of land and there were now no loss than 12,000 whites living in these regions. The railway to the capitals from the Capo was nearly completed. There were churches, schools and courts of law. The Boer War of 1899 stopped development, for the Boers cut the railway going down to the Cape. The company police played a conspicuous part in the hostilities and were frequently mentioned in the dispatches. The policy of Rhodes had been to encourage farming and cultivation and not to concentrate entirely on the mineral deposits. This policy has been furthered by his successors, who have made the purchase of land cheap and have given every assistance to farmers. In particular they encouraged the tobacco industry, which, aided by English preferential tariffs, has grown at great speed. In 1923 the company's era as an administrator came to an end. Selfgovernment was granted to Southern Rhodesia and Northern Rhodesia became a protectorate of the Crown. The company surrendered its monopoly rights but retained its mineral rights and certain land areas. Inspired by Imperial Ideal. Its president, Sir Henry Birchenough, remarked recently at a meeting of the company: "Our company was founded upon hope for years and years while it was introducing law and order, while it was establishing a complete system of .civil admmistration in Southern and Northern Rhodesia, while it was constructing some 2000 miles of railways, less to meet the needs of existing trallic than in the hope of creating it. All this it did without immediate reward —but inspired by a great Imperial ideal. And yet during those long years the shareholders never lost heart and maintained their confidence, in the future. ■ "I have said that our work is now entirely commercial, but let us not forget that we are the depositories of a great tradition. So long as it is my privilege to exercise any influence upon the conduct of your company's affairs, I shall never lose sight of the Imperial j ideals of our founder, Cecil Rhodes, nor of the duty he laid upon us to distri- ', bute our shares to the development of the resources of the territory which bears his honoured name and thereby to foster the welfare of its people."