and military character, the reins of government era commonly taken over by the State from the company, and a vaguely defined protectorate passes gradually into the form of a colony. Sierra Leone, Uganda, and, at no distant date, Rhodesia, will serve for recent instances of this evolution.
Part II, Chapter IV (cont’d)
Notes
- Kidd, The Control of the Tropics, p.53 (Macmillan & Co.).
- Chartered Company government is not necessarily bad in its direct results. It is, in fact, little else than private despotism rendered more than usually precarious in that it has been established for the sake of dividends. A “managing director” may be scrupulous and far-sighted, as Sir G.T. Goldie in the Niger Company, or unscrupulous and short-sighted, as Mr. Rhodes in the South African Chartered Company. The unchecked tyranny of the managing director may be illustrated by the evidence of the Duke of Abercorn tendered to the South African Committee. “Mr. Rhodes had received a power of attorney to do precisely what he liked without consultation with the Board, he simply notifying what was done.”