NATIVES AM) LAHOlll 217 



without doubt, are the rates, taxes, and licences 

 imposed by the municipality which make living 

 excessively dear, not only for the natives but for 

 the European also. The influence of the town 

 extends for a considerable distance into the 

 country round, but it dwindles away and dis- 

 appears at the Limpopo. 



In the district of Mozambique no agricultural 

 development exists ; hence no harm is being done 

 to the agricultural progress of that region through 

 the exodus of 8,000 people, which represents ap- 

 proximately the annual recruiting from there for 

 the Rand. In the Mozambique Company's terri- 

 tory no recruiting is permitted, as has been stated ; 

 in Tete and the Nyassaland Company's territory 

 there is little or no agricultural development to 

 hold back. 



If this study of the circumstances be impartial 

 and reasonable, which I believe it to be, there is 

 found to be no case against recruiting in so far 

 as the great part of the Province is concerned, 

 and under existing conditions. A few years 

 may upset the balance, but at present there is 

 no case. It may, perhaps, add weight to my 

 opinions if I state that on first arriving in the 

 country I was inclined to join in the chorus of 

 protest, my sympathies naturally being with the 

 land, and that it was only after travelling through 



