"Well," replied Mr Stanley, "the natives have always got the slopes of
the country. It is, of course, a white man's land, because the white
man has taken it. At the same time there are reserves, and the question
is, how much of the reserves for the whites has been put aside for
agriculturists. Ought the Company to be satisfied with having only
miners in Rhodesia who will employ the natives, and after all the gold
is got will retire and leave Rhodesia the black man's country that it
was, or do the authorities intend to plant an English race permanently
there? What are their offers? The Chartered Company ought to give 160
acres of land to any settlers who will undertake to develop it and
remain on it for five years, after which the land would be their own. A
somewhat similar system is adopted with regard to the mines. If you peg
out claims you must work them. So it ought to be with the agricultural
land. Having done this, it would remain for the Chartered Company to do
their utmost to increase facilities for communication. If they gave
reserves free to the natives whom they had conquered, they certainly
ought to give at least the same advantages to the white settlers who are
to make the country prosperous and to yield revenue by the payment of
taxes."