UNCROWNED KING.

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 113, 9 April 1930, Page 15

UNCROWNED KING.

CECIL JOHN RHODES. A PERSONAL SKETCH. To tho majority the name of Cecil Rhodes, Africa’s “uncrowned king,” is that and little more. To students of history he is remembered as a great Imperialist, wliilo to the few the memory of his personal friendship and masterful leadership is treasured as something akin to a holy influence (writes W. Gordon Sprigg in the Melbourne Argus). To know and understand Cecil Rhodes at his best, and .to test' the depth of his friendship, it was perhaps necessary to visit liim at his demesne under the shadow of Table Mountain, Groote Schuur, left by him in that famous will as the permanent homo of United South Africa’s Prime Minister (now in use by General Hertzog), there to (Vijoy his generous hospitality and to share in those gifts which he dispensed so freely and unaffectedly, and withal so thoroughly. Rhodes was a disciple of tho simple life, with a free and easy bearing that would have made a strong appeal to Australians. When Rhodes decided to fence the Grooto Schuur estate, in the grounds of which were housed a number of wild animals, ho had 2000 keys made for tho gates, which he had placed in the custody of the Mayor of Capetown, and authorised the Mayor to distribute the keys at his own discretion to the citizens, so that they might have entree to the grounds at any time. Tho keys were never distributed, and Rhodes later decided to throw the grounds open to the public as a general resort. „ MONEY SPENT ON EMPIRE.

Many public men make and spend money on their own pleasures. Rhodes made and spent money for and on the Empire, his controlling passion being Empire extension and consolidation. Rhodes was a most approachable man. A personal incident will illustrate this. It is safe to affirm that many hundreds who sought an interview and attempted such interview through the customary official channels were denied fulfilment of their quest, for the secretarial cordon at Groote Schuur was particularly effective and of Rhodes’s own choosing. But let him know, somehow, that you had a “fine proposition to submit,” and keep faith with your promise, then the battle was half won. Being desirous of gaining his imprimatur and financial backing to a certain undertaking which I believed would merit his support, I managed to have a letter placed in his hands through the good offices of a fellow member of tho House of Assembly. Turning up a corner of the missive, Rhodes wrote: “Yes, I will see you: come and lunch with me at Groote Schuur on Saturday.” After lunch, round the tablo being a company of South African public men, he said to me, “Come up to my bedroom, for it is the only place in this house where I am left alone.” He not only gave his support to the proposal submitted, but later introduced me to Mr Alfred 13eit, at his house in Park Lane, London, Mr Beit being probably tho richest man in the South African group of investors at that day, and since, he and Rhodes being closely associated in the early days of the Kimberley diamond diggings, where Barney Barnato also grew rich, and many another. HIS GENEROSITY. The project I presented to these two

world financiers was for a bigger and better Y.M.C.A. movement in South Africa. It was eomething they had .never touched up to that time. Later I procured contributions from both King Edward (100 guineas) and Queen Alexandra (50 guineas) _ towards the same proposal, these being the initial donations given by the reigning British monarclis to the Y.M.C.A. movement in any part of the world. As Rhodes bade mo forowelL on the rteps at Groote Schuur his last words were: “If you do not get all tho money you need come back and tell me. 1 still have a little more left, and I will seo what I can do later.” The next time I was anywhere near him was at his funeral. The Boer War came on, Rhodes died during the war, and along with countless others, I saw all that remained of the great Colossus borne away from Capetown to the last resting place in tho Matoppos. Strangely enough, the last £SOO from Mr Alfred Beit was obtained from him in his bedroom, as ho was lying ill at his home in Park Lane, with the promise of a much more substantial donation when he recovered, but he also passed awav shortly afterwards. Ine late Mr Joseph Chamberlain, when he was on the Rand, addressing a group of mine owners, and aiming to get them to pay tlieir Boer Wat Y, c t+ •urged them to ‘think Imperially. -It would be safe to say that Rhodes accepted this as a guiding principle.