arise, as they have done in South Africa, to wish to wash their hands of them, or to convert the British Empire into a limited liability company. (Laughter.) Therefore I do hope that the admirable lecture and description we have had to-night will have a very wide circulation, and will not be without its influence when this South African question attracts the attention of what we call the Imperial Parliament—(laughter)—because I think it would open people’s eyes to see that by playing the old English part of a manly, straightforward course of facing our responsibilities, and looking to the future for our reward, we need not be afraid of meeting those responsibilities; and if we do so boldly and courageously, most assuredly we shall get our reward. I trust that this lecture will not be without its influence, and that the future development of the civilisation of South Africa will not be thrown away by the ignorance of the British people at home. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. Hutchinson (Church Missionary Society): I feel a great difficulty in following all the subjects touched upon this evening. I came merely to hear Dr. Holub’s lecture with reference to the opening up of Central Africa from the Cape Colony, which he seems to promise as an event of no distant date. I have given a good deal of attention to the best routes for penetrating Central Africa. We have attempted the routes by the Nile and from the East coast, and are hoping to open up a route from the Upper Niger. I listened with great pleasure to the views expressed by Dr. Holub as to the route from the south. But the conclusion I draw is this—that unless under the auspices of such a man as the King of the Belgians, no available route will be established from the Colony to the interior of Central Africa through the Bechuana country, because there is really no long distance traffic that will pay. I gathered from the lecture that the small local traffic had rather fallen off, and also that the Bechuanas were improving their agricultural prospects, and might export grain to the South, taking in return such manufactured goods as they might need. But this exchange would not create long distance traffic from Central Africa, without which this scheme could never be a great highway for reaching the interior of Africa. There is another difficulty in the way, and that is with respect to the Portuguese concession. I suppose that Dr. Holub knows that within the last eighteen months there has been started a large Company in France, to whom the Portuguese Government have given a concession over the forests and mines, extending along the whole course of the Zambesi. I quite agree with what Dr. Holub has said as to the thorough grasp at one time held by Portugal of the continent from Congo to Mozambique.
