ABSTRACT
Charles Dunell Rudd, James Rochfort Maguire and Frank Thompson, for the purpose of securing a concession for the mineral rights of all Lobengula’s territories. As the first party of any influence which had embarked on such an enterprise, Rudd and his colleagues undoubtedly possessed an advantage. The mission of Sir Sidney Shippard, who was Deputy Commissioner of the Bechuanaland Protectorate, had no ostensible connection with Rhodes’ schemes for a concession, but followed naturally on his expedition into the Northern Protectorate to inquire into the circumstances of Johannes Grobler’s death. When the struggle for Africa is a thing of the past, the business of angling for concessions from native chiefs may at first sight appear unworthy or even degrading, and it is impossible to deny that when conducted by unscrupulous persons, as was too often the case, it led to grave abuses.
