henceforth rule, the full appraisement of which is at present impossible. [Illustration: A MAP OF THE RHODESIAN GOLD FIELDS. _From "South Africa," by permission._] Altogether, therefore, the outlook is one of undimmed brightness, for the misgivings entertained in some quarters regarding new taxation burdens to be imposed, calculated to hamper or hinder the progress of the industry, must be allowed to have no shadow of substance. The pronouncements of the Government hitherto, and the recommendations of their Transvaal adviser, are clear on this head. Taxation will naturally have to be borne, and the tax on profits was accepted in principle by the mining industry before the war. Its incidence, whatever be the amount, will only reduce to a fractional extent that portion of the yield set apart for dividends, which will bear the burden, whatever it be, with the greater ease in view of the accretion of dividends rendered possible by the new conditions. There are, indeed, grounds for assuming that a part of the agitation on foot is lacking in singleness of aim, and engineered by persons who have some secondary object to gain. The rank and file of the mining industry, as well as the best sense of the Anglo-Saxon community, has, however, confidence in the Government that it will do nothing harmful to the best interests of the new Colonies in general, and its staple industry in particular, and, moreover, will be true to the English principle of inviting the taxed to its councils. It is in this particular light that the visit of the Secretary of State for the Colonies to South Africa has such special interest at this juncture. [Illustration: MILL (OR BATTERY) OF A GOLD MINE (SALISBURY AND JUBILEE, JOHANNESBURG) The powdered ore is washed down over the plates. The deafening roar from the stamps sounds in quiet evenings, from a distance, like the roar of the sea on a rocky coast. Photo by Barnett & Co., Johannesburg] THE AGRICULTURAL OUTLOOK BY LOUIS CRESWICKE