WITH CARRINGTOH THROUGH RHODESIA.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 10756, 8 September 1900, Page 4

WITH CARRINGTOH THROUGH RHODESIA.

THE SALISBURY OF TO-DAY.

STORIES OF DR. JIM.

{From the "Daily News.")

A town of 4000 inhabitants and forty.miles of streets; a town of one-storied brick stores and nouses fringing its broad red thoroughfares ; a plodding, rising thriving town—this Salisbury. It is the pioneer city of Rhodesia, and haa grown so rapidly by its own untiring energies that it has almost forgotten that not four years ago it was marked on the map aa "Fort Sali-bury." Salisbury is a place which has been from time to time conveniently forgotten by the Briti_h South Africa Company. __dr_ are yet people in the world who belier, that the colonising of Rhodesia began with the building of B_,awa.yc—people who at* ignorant of the Tact that Salisbury was a township when Bulawayo was "The Place of the lulling," what time portly Lo Bengula swayed the de-tines, of his warriors from beneath th©-hadow of Thabas Induna. Salisbury is the capital of Rhodesia; it has a Parliament House wiaioh used to be an hotel, an_ it is -.ere that the people _ valiant four argue eloquently, but, alas 1 ineffectively, against the Company's -immovable seven,

There ia a brewery which brews real beer, and a laundry worked by steam, and the electric light has been promised. The queer thing that strikes one about Salisbury is that it is really two towns, and rival towns at that, each distinot from th© other—eac_ with its own little society circle—each with its own post-office, its own club, its own bars, and—if there were sufficient to go round—l have no doubt that each would have its own church, but, as in most Bbodesian towns, the supply of churches is very strictly limited. The reason for this peculiar state of affairs is not at first apparent, but an inquiry elicits an amusing explanation.

When the first pioneers came to Salisbury they fixed on a place a few mile, north of the present site as a desirable spot for a township. Later came the people who were to make Salisbury a town—-pioneers also, with the smell'of Portuguese swamps still in their nostrils, and the memory of their buried dead fresh in their minds, pioneers with revolvers and quinine.' These, mistaking the exact location of the chosen spot, decided to pitch their camp at the foot of the kopje which gives to Salisbury a distinctive land mark. Later came the official pioneers, Dr. Jameson and his staff, and these, either falling into the same error, or thinking the site *was better, surveyed a spot half-way between the original place and the kopje, and about a mile or so from the latter. When the town was pegged out Dr. Jameson extended an invitation to the little township at the foot of the kopje to come over and settle in the Real Town.

The Kopje-siders, however, had by this time run up several tin shanties, and had started business; they therefore wanted to know what compensation they might expect from the Government if they decided to demolish their little town, and, move across to the "Causeway" side. They were politely informed that they might expect just what they liked, but that any expecta?" tkms would go unrealised. Whereupon tho "Kopje" refused to budge. "Very well," said the Causeway,."we shall build our postoffice here, and you'll have to come over for your letters*." "Not a bit of it," said Kopje; "we'll build a post-office, too"—and eventually they did

"We shall erect an hotel and a bar," said the Causeway.

"We've had threa bars going for a month," was, t_e triumphant retort-; and so, in that little Rhodesia- town, there sprangTnto existence a keen rivalry which exists to this day. As a matter of fact, the Kopje side has the best hotel," and is certainly the business end of Salisbury, whilst, th© Causeway side has now developed into a Rhodesian West-end, with an aristocratic club, a superior set of Government offices, a large post-office, and a bandstand.

There is a quietness in tbe Salisbury of today—the quietness of a little English town, and it is difficult to imagine that less than four years ago the events happened that justified the erection of the simple granite pillar which' stands hi the public gardens as a solitary and solemn memorial of the brave who gave their lives in the rebeßiori of 1896.

Salisbury was lively in those times. Day after day the news came in, brought by palefaced riders, who galloped their panting, steaming horses up to the •administrative buildings. Stories, of massacres, of outlying stations suddenly attacked by the rebels, of -iurder, of rapine, of tort—re. of death. Then came the formation of the laager, a command—nt was appointed, the "old" burgher force patrolled the outskirts of the town, and every burgher was ordered to bring in and contribute to the common fund of munitions of war any arms he might have. In two days the preparations were well ahead, and then the neura of massacre came to hand. Prom the Lo Maghonda district came the story of the murder of Corporal Steatinge and Trooper Wills, of tire Mashonaland Mounted Police. They had been caught in tbe Gwebe River, and their dead bodies had been found. The women and children, were put inside the gaol, martial law was proclaimed. The scene outside the gaol and laager was -beyond all description. Waggons were being off-loaded hurriedly, o_en were lowing, riders were swearing, native drivers were yelling to their charges, carts and sulkies drove up every few minutes conveying ladies, or laden with" baggage, and amidst it all came the news that the Mashonaa under Matabele chiefs were within a few miles of the town. Times have changed, and to-day the free-wheel cyclist scorches with impunity where four years ago the batless pallid farmer rode for his life from the driipping assegai- of the Ma_hona Impi. • Tbe official dispatch conveying the particulars of operations, in which from 20,000 to 60,000 men were engaged, has now become fain—iar to the English reader, and he is apt to skip reports dealing with the movement of a paltry hundred or two. The rebellion of 1896 was .not quelled by the movement of thousanls. "and reliefs were effected by tens —and less. When one reads the record- of the little operations in Mashonaland, of the splendid recklessness of the men who did so much with so little, one realises afresh who are the real Empire makers. I make the following extract from the official report on the rebellion:—

"THE MA-OE PATROL. "Report.by Lieutenant D. Judson on the Relief of Mazoe. '"According to instructions I left Salisbury on the evening of the 18th inst. with a patrol of four men. . . -'"

The italics are mine. Just now the spare spaces of Sab_b_ry are covered with. Mafeking placard-. At the time of the relief Sabsbury was rather empty, and so to make up for any deficiency of enthusiasm (and Heaven knows for a week there was no deficiency in that quality) posters were stuck tip in every window, on boards before shops, on blank walls, everywhere where space permitted, extolling the courage of the little garrison, and calling for cheers for its brave chief. Sober bungalows were hilarious with "Well done, Mafeking. Hurrah!" Prim, verandahed cottages cast aside decorum with "What ho! BadenPowell for ever!" On all sides were flaming, red-lettered invitations to "Roll up at the Market square to celebrate the Glorious Relief." How London behaved I do not know, for the wires tell us not; bat Salisbury went mad—dancing, drinking, riotously mad. Rhodesia has ; a right to celebrate, for was it cot her troops who had been fighting for six _aonths between Fort T_li and Lobatsi to effect the rekef? Inseparably associated with Salisbury in its establishment and its struggles for existence is Br. Jameson. There are some delicious stories told of the Doctor, many of which have already appeared in print. There was a free and easiness about Salisbury nr the old days, and the prospector newly arrived from the back country was wont to" dispense with any formality when dealing with her Majesty's representative in Maahonaiand. It was quite the thing to stalk into the Admui-iitr-tor'- private office and discass the state

of the weather. There were certainslimitatkms, however, and the story is—l will not vouch for its acft__cy—that a miner from a distance, who had the __sfort_ne to kill one of his "boys" in self-defence —perhaps the stick was too heavy, or the negro's skull too thin—rushed into the office one day, and with a scared face, for he was a new chum, who had not yet grasped the relative values of life north of the Limpopo, proceeded to pour out his story to the lounging, drowsy man with the inevitable cigarette. "Well, well," inquired the Doctor, impatiently (so the story runs), "what the devil do you want? Do you expect mc to bury him?"

The people of Salisbury have generally had a standing grievance against the Government, and when Doctor Jim was Adm_iistrator it was his duty to listen to these. As far as lay in his power, he assisted the citizens, but the greater grievances he could not deal with. What the grievances were I cannot for certain say, but there was a mining grievance, and one connected with the absence of railway facilities. It was resolved at last to hold what trade societies would call "A Monster Meeting," and the Doctor was invited in his official capacity to listen to the voice of the people. The meeting came off in a hall attached to an hotel, and Doctor Jim, having made himself fairly comfortable, gave his attention to the oppressed populace, as one after another the orators rose and poured fort- their eloquent appeals for justice, or whatever it -was they happened to be in need of just then. At length the last speaker resumed his seat amidst a thunder of applause, and the Doctor rose.

His words were few but ta the.point. "Gentlemen," said he, "it's a long time between drinks—let us have a drink!" and the meeting adjourned to the bar. There is a story of a lynching—of a trembling nigger murderer crouching in hsa cell, whilst the infuriated men of Salisbury dema—ded his body for subsequent treatment. The bead gaoler, pale but determined, stood at the gate of the gaol, rifle in hand, holding the crowd in check. Things began to take a dangerous aspect, when Doctor Jameson, who had been sent for, pushed ' his waythrough' the crowd and faced tho maddened mob. There was a howl when he tried to speak, but mounting a bos he held up his hand.

"Gentlemen," he shouted,: "just a few words—only hear mc." S_e_c_ fell for a __nute.

"For God's sake don't da this thing!"— the Doctor was speaking earnestly. "You don't know what you are doing. We're on the eve of a boom!"