"The other week," said he, "I suggested the formation of a united South African waterworks company. There are hundreds of streams in Rhodesia and other parts of South Africa, and yet every casual tourist says the land is worth nothing for agriculture. That is what was said about Mildura, in Australia, until irrigation was started. The same system is necessary in South Africa, and a powerful irrigation company could distribute the water when available, and also conserve it for the dry seasons." "I daresay it is your opinion that little can be done in this direction by the isolated efforts of individuals?" "Practically nothing," replied Mr Stanley. "If new settlers see land near water they will buy it; but they come to the country with slender capital, perhaps two or three hundred pounds, and cannot afford to sink wells in the desert; but if someone will raise that water for them, and sell the land, it will be taken at once. The people who settle, supposing they are English, will constantly keep English influence equal to the Boer." RHODESIA IN THE HANDS OF LAND GRABBERS. "Some existing African Companies hold farm lands," remarked the interviewer. "Ought they turn their attention promptly to the agricultural development of those lands, instead of confining their attention so exclusively to mineral wealth?" "Certainly," said Mr Stanley. "Take, for instance, the Willoughby Consolidated. They have an enormous acreage of land. The people of Bulawayo wanted water, so a certain number formed a company to make the waterworks. They had to buy about 6000 acres from the Willoughby Consolidated to protect their watershed. Supposing these people had not bought the land for the sake of the waterworks, the Willoughby Consolidated would have kept all this vast acreage to themselves, and would have developed it only according to the necessities of the neighbourhood, or sold it to some settlers who wanted to live there. Most of Rhodesia has been divided in that way by the people who grabbed at the territory, so that poor settlers, the bone, marrow, and sinew, are frightened by the prices." "Do you, then, think that the best farms are already allotted?"