ABSTRACT
The missionaries in the interior, particularly those of two or three American societies, are doing very good work in creating new wants amongst the natives by means of industrial training and other civilizing agencies, but still more can be done by the traders themselves by pushing their trade further afield and carefully studying the requirements and tastes of the natives. The aborigines live only for the present; they cannot see the force of cultivating plants such as the coffee, for the fruits of which they must wait for a long period of four or more years. They are anxious for ‘quick returns.’ Turning to the consideration of Mr. Shelford’s report, my recent tour has more than convinced me of the desirability of projecting the railway through the Upper Mendi districts rather than towards Bumban: that is to say, through the southern portion of the Protectorate rather than the northern.
