The First Matabele War.
The Mode in which the Capital of the Com-Pete Hi i Subsidi The History of its Subsidiary Companies.
TheDistribution and ManipulationofShares.
Indeed, the only thing which Mr. Chamberlain would not hear of as coming within the scope of the enquiry was the origin of the Charter. Sir William Harcourt proposes to call on one of these topics "great colonial governors, administrators of India, and so forth." Tf everything else is done on the same scale the Raid will have been forgotten some years before the Committee reports upon it, So at least we may predict; but we can hardly any of us hope to live long enough We cannot possibly spare the space to follow H.E. Li in his travels in England, but we may quote the following from the Pall Mall. After mentioning how many Continental Royalties enjoy a holiday in England, it says On the present occasion, however, we are to be deprived of the presence of one of the most regular and most welcome of our illustrious visitors. The Kaiser is not coming to Cowes after all, a decision which is to be regretted inasmuch as it deprives English sportsmen of an opportunity of giving. him practical proof that their personal sentiments towards ® grandson of the Queen and a brother yachtsman have not been changed by untoward events which are now almost ancient history. Mall probability the Kaiser has no doubts upon that point, and perhaps, after all, his abstention from personal participation fu the it gathering of white wings on the Solent is due to a delicate respect for the natural desire of the Queen to conclude a year marked by domestic bereavement without any more display of state ceremonial than maybe necessary. That motive will perhaps suffice to account for his absence from Cowes next week.
Li Hung-chang among us on Monday, and In revenge, we are to have the illustrious there is a possibility, though by no means a certainty, of a visit from the Czar and Carina. Ifthe youthful Emperor Nicholasand his charming Consort elect to pay usa visit they will certainly have no cause to complain of any lack of cordiality in the reception which will be just as hearty as, though considerably less delirious than, the welcome which awaits them in France if finally be advised by his physicians that they go there. Whether the Czar will Vichy is the only water that will "suit his complaint" this year seems, as yet, doubtful. M. de Blowitz, who habitually knows more about the movements of the great ones of the earth than they know themselves, says that "'according to my own information" the Imperial couple will visit both London and Paris, London—if the Czar's own wishes prevail—being taken first, and the French visit being reserved as the crown and coping-stone of the tour. If M. Méline's organ, the République Francaise, is to be believed the matter is so far settled that the actual residence to be occupied by the Czar and Czarina has been already decided upon and the upholsterers are actually at work. M. Hanotaux, Minister of Foreign Affairs, runs down to Havre today in order to see M. Faure before the latter starts on his starring engagement in Brittany. According to the fafallible Pontiff of the whom we have already quoted, M. Hanotaux is going to kill two Czar's and, likewise, to have a few part-birds with one stone. He is going to fix up the ing words with Li Hung-chang. Whether de Blowitz is right in hinting that the meeting of these three perser is to be the occasion of the signature by the French President of some little document which has already been signed in St. Petersburg or Moscow, is a question which time must be left. to decide. But it certainly seems improbable that France should let the Celestial envoy depart without getting something more out of him than floral tributes of language. Presumably Li will not be asked to put his name to paper by the British Government, But it is to be hoped that we shall at least take the opportunity of showing him something of the City and of the Fleet, in order that he may obtain some notion of the extent to which this country is to be reckoned with as a commercial and a maritime Power. If we can do that, Li's little visit will not have been wholly useless either to England or to China.
The Economist shows in its note of the Ast ult. on the Money Market that it did not then anticipate the rise in rates There has been a slight hardening of discount rates this week, and the general quot tion for best three months paper is now cent. There is, of course, alway a tenlency for rates to stiffen a little at the end of the month, when the banks are calling in money, and, in addition, the disturbances in Crete and 'Macedonia,' and the currency unsettlement in the United States, are making lenders cautious. The flow of gold from the States has been stopped for the present by the arrangement with the banks to sell some millions of exchange in anticipation of the ince bills that will be coming forward later. Dbviously, however, an arrangement of that kind does not obviate, but only postpones, gold shipments; and unless the prospects of the sound money party, improves we muse look for a revival of the drain upon the gold reserve of.the Treasury, the effect of which will be to keep down rates here.
The Economist's first leading article is on the Jameson Trial, the result of which it thinks in every sense satisfactory. The Government has still, the writer holds, to decide whether it will prosecute those who organised the raid, even if they endeavoured at the last moment to prevent the actual crossing of the frontier by Dr. Jameson. "Tt cannot be right to punish the agents and instruments and let the principals go free." The Economist is equally satisfied with the Enquiry that is to be undertaken by the Select Committee It is clearly intended to cover the whole wund and if the Committee does its duty, as We have no doubt it will, the many perplexed and difficult questions which "have arisen will be sifted to the end. We are specially glad to note that the circumstances under Which the Chartered Company was promoted and financed will be part of the subject of the miry. That these matters will be included clear from Mr. Chamberlain's answer to Mr. Dillon. Mr. Dillon is reported to have asked whether the wording of the Reference would eave the enquiry open to consider the questions connected with the raising of the capital, the distribution of the shares of the Chartered Company and their manipulation, or would it, simply be confined to the administration of the affairs of Rhodesia, Mr. Chamberlain replied that the word "administration" is 0 wide word, and it would cover that. It will, therefore we rejoice to think be possible to settle once and for all whether the ugly stories connected with the distribution of the Company's shares are true or false. It may be that they have no foundation. If that is proved to be the case, no one will feel more Satisfaction than ourselves. In any case the matter requires careful investigation, and nothing but. good can come from light being thrown on the whole subject. And there is another matter of great importance which we presume will be well within the reference of the Committee. Large sums of money have been raised by the Chartered Company in
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.