THE FUTURE 109 



of patience and weary waiting, the mail brings 

 letters bearing on the envelope the stamp of the 

 manufacturer you have applied to. With trembhng 

 fingers you tear it exultingly open, and find that 

 he has sent you something which is "not quite 

 what you ordered, but really a better article for the 

 purpose." You return it with an indignant letter, 

 and after more months of delay the goods originally 

 ordered are delivered, and you find, as you eagerly 

 muster the various parts to adjust them, that some 

 vital screw or indispensable valve has been omitted, 

 or lost in transit, or stolen, and again you have to 

 submit to still more delay. It is a country in which 

 nothing can be safely relegated to the supervision 

 of another — nothing left to chance, or you find to 

 your cost the truth of the adage which advocates 

 the doing of all things oneself. 



My own view of the future of the vast area we 

 call Zambezia is that its development will not be 

 achieved by large concessionary companies. They 

 are too unwieldy, or rather, the needs of the con- 

 cessions entrusted to their governance are too 

 numerous, intricate, and multifarious to be supplied 

 by even the most painstaking and conscientious of 

 directing boards. Instead of two or three de- 

 veloping companies, we need two or three hundred, 

 aU engaged in the prosecution of well-devised 

 schemes under the benevolent surveillance of an 

 active and at the same time liberal government. 

 This sounds Uke idealism, perhaps, but its realisa- 

 tion is not, I think, so difficult to compass as may 

 appear at first sight. If we come to ask ourselves, 

 after a careful examination of what the great 



