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at any time, and hardly any question of the ex- pediency of continuing to assert our rights-so that this particular matter gives rise to no anxiety.

THE MISSION QUESTION—AND German INTERESTS.

Before concluding, attention may be briefly drawn to the question of the Mission Stations in Zululand.

There are English, Norwegian, and German Missions in Zululand. It has been the policy of successive Governments to decline to interfere in favour of the missionaries, and Lord Wolseley's Settlement of 1879 practically ignored their claims; and, as regards the English and Nor- wegian Missions, there can be no question that the policy of former Governments would be adhered to.

But if we refuse to interfere in Zululand generally and in favour of the Missions in par- ticular, we must expect the contingency of the German Government demanding to be relieved from the Agreement of 1885 as to its non- interference in Zululand, which it may assert, not without reason, was entered into on the assumption that Her Majesty's Government would, sooner or later, restore order in Zululand, and secure to German and other missionaries, traders, miners, or settlers protection in their callings.

At one time we hoped that the missionary question was in a fair way of settlement. Of the six German stations the Boers professed themselves willing to restore five, assigning 1,000 acres to each. The missionaries demanded the sixth station and 6,000 acres for each, and objected to the condition demanded by the Boers of taking the oath of allegiance. Possibly these difficulties might have been smoothed over, and that hope may not be extinct; but our most recent informa- tion is that a German officer attached to the Ger- man Consulate at Cape Town, was recently sent by his Government into the Zulu country to inquire into the question, and was there told by the President of the New Republic "that the Boers intended to keep the mission stations, and "boasted that they would defend by force what "they possessed." (Sir H. Bulwer, confidential, 30 September 1884.)

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Dr. Einwald, the German traveller, whose name is so well known in connection with Zulu affairs, has recently called at the Colonial Office, and his views may be quoted as bearing on the question of German interests as well as other questions of more general concern. In his opinion, Her Majesty's Government need not apprehend any serious opposition from the Boers if they declare that their seizures of land and the attitude of the Zulus threaten grave complications and require the immediate intervention of this country, and the appointment of some one as Commissioner to inquire into the validity of the Boer claims and the justification for the survey of so many and such large farms.

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