NORTHERN RHODESIA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19967, 8 December 1926, Page 10

NORTHERN RHODESIA.

A PRODUCTIVE LAND. A NEW ZEALANDER INTERVIEWED. (Special to Dails Times.) AUCKLAND, December 7. So much has been heard lately about Kenya colony that most people»suppose it to be the only “white man’s country” in Central Africa. As a matter of fact there are large areas in Northern Rhodesia and the mandated Tanganyika territory which are well suited to permanent white settlement, and are gradually acquiring a British farming population. A New Zealander, Mr D. F. Duigan, formerly of Wanganui, who has returned to his native land for a few months’ holiday after several years in Northern Rhodesia, gave an interesting account of life and sport there in an interview. Mr Duigan holds a property of 10,000 acres at Abercorn, at the southern end of Lake Tanganyika, in part nership with his brother-in-law, Mr Justice Ostler, whose companion he has been on two different big game expeditions in Central Africa within recent years. Northern Rhodesia, said Mr Duigan, was a protectorate under the Colonial Office. It should not be confused with Southern Rhodesia, a self-governing colony separated from it by the river Zambesi. The chief products for export were maize and coffee, which were shipped to Europe first by steamer to Kigoma, some 300 miles up Lake Tanganyika, and thence 780 miles over the former German railway to Dar-es-salaam, on the east coast. The freights were very reasonable, being about £4 a ton. Cattle were raised for the local market, but it was not expected that with the competition from the Argentine, it would be possible to develop an export trade in beef. Mining had become of great importance to the to; Tory, said Mr Duigan. At Broken Hill, toward the southern border, were very large lead and zinc mines operated by British capital and native labour. A water power scheme, costing £1,000,000, yas being carried out to supply ■ electricity for further developments. The region was rich in minerals, only a small part of which had been exgloited. Just across the border of the Belgian Congo, near Elizabethville, was the Star of the Congo, one of the lai est copper mines in the world. This was owned by the Belgian Government and a British financier, Mr Robert Williams. Broken Hill had been developed largely by Australian engineers. Speaking of the possibilities of settlement in Northern Rhodesia, Mr Duigan said that there was abundance of land, but no one could expect to make a success with loss than £SOOO capital. Coffee was a profitable crop in the highlands. Its market value was about £7 a hundredweight, and under favourable conditions 15cwt or more could be produced from an acre of land. With the help of irrigation in a dry season a great deal of coffee and tea were now being grown in the higher country of the Tanganyika territory as well. All kinds of sport were to be had. There was an abundance of game, including lions, leopards, elephants, and every variety of antelope. Contrary to the general belief, the African elephant was not dying, out, but was even increasing. One of the most exciting experiences he had ever had was a native hippopotamus hunt on Lake Tanganyika. This was carried out in dugout canoes by a band of men whose forefathers had been hippopotamus hunters for generations. The leader was an active man of 70. When an animal was located, he was harpooned with a razor-pointed spear of native iron mounted on a pithwood shaft bearing a float. The shaft became detached when the hippo “sounded,” and the float being tied on to the head with a line showed where it was. After striking the blow the natives all lay down_ in the canoe, which the hippo was very likely to attack with his teeth. It was provided with a strake of fibrous material, in the hope that the animal would bite this instead of the wood. Sometimes a canoe was upset and men were lost. He had heard of one man being bitten in two. The harpooning was repeated until the hippo became exhausted, when it was killed with a lance thrust. As a carcase weighed a couple of tons, it kept a village in meat for a long time. The natives were allowed a hunt only occasionally, otherwise the animals might ho killed out altogether.