A South African Kingdom.

A grave problem demanded settlement immediately after he arrived. It concerned the policy to be pursued towards the Native races. He had already served his apprenticeship to this department of statesmanship in two very different countries, and was thus prepared for grappling with it on an ascending scale of difficulty. The rapid decline and steadfast retreat of the Australian blacks were gradually withdrawing them from intercourse with the colonists and supervision by the Governments. The Maoris were far more formidable, but they too were wasting away before the white advance, and their total disappearance was only a question of time. It was quite otherwise in South Africa. What to do with the blacks? was a question that kept sleep from the eyes of every High Commissioner in turn. The problem was at its acutest in Zululand, where the colonists were, as they still are, enormously outnumbered by the Zulus. A plausible solution of a particular portion of the problem had already been proposed. Mr. (now so well known as Sir) Theophilus Shepstone was the son of an African missionary, and as such had ample opportunities of becoming acquainted with the Zulus. So completely was he master of everything connected with the subject that he had for years been confidential adviser to the Lieutenant-Governor of Natal on Native affairs.