134

RHODESIA OF TO-DAY

vni

ADMIN IS TBA TION

The scheme which has now been adopted for the administration of Matabeleland, though criti­cised as faulty in some of its details, has met with a general approval in South Africa. It was at first feared, and not without reason, that a Crown Colony would be established here ; but Her Majesty’s Government, bearing in mind that Matabeleland as well as Mashonaland is included within the region described in the Charter as the principal field of the operations of the British South Africa Company, that the concessions held by the Company are applicable to the whole of Lobengula’s territory, and that the recent war had been principally carried on at the expense of the Company, decided that it would be right to place Matabeleland under the direct administra­tion of the Company, and that the Company’s