240 
EUROPE AND AFRICA 
cisive factor in maintaining the superiority of British in- 
fluence in the Union (where the Nationalists were already 
coquetting with the Labor Party), and they therefore re- 
fused to join a country of strong separatist tendencies. 
Nearly a year elapsed before the new Rhodesian Govern- 
ment took office. On September 12, 1923, the annexation of 
the Rhodesias to the British Crown was formally proclaimed. 
This was the thirty-third anniversary of the British South 
Africa Company. Its capital then stood at £8,768,000, 
and, including debentures and premiums paid on shares, the 
Company had received from the public and expended in 
South Africa nearly £14,500,000. It had never paid a 
dividend. Its investments, however, were valued at £4,806,- 
000, and its mineral rights, concessions, lands, and land 
rights were put down at cost at £5,140,000. Its revenue in 
eighteen months had exceeded its expenses by £307,000, and 
it had accumulated a total credit balance of £1,012,000. 
From this balance for the first tire in its history it paid a 
dividend ! — 2% per cent. Since this balance sheet was 
issued, the Company has come to terms with the British 
Government, accepting in full settlement for its claims under 
the Cave award £3,750,000 and the cancellation of a counter- 
claim for nearly £2,000,000 which the British Government 
had advanced to it for military purposes during the Great 
War. Over half of the capital sum received from the Gov- 
ernment has been used to reduce the capital of the Company 
from £8,768,000 to £6,576,000. The Company retains its 
mineral rights in the Rhodesias, and all its commercial rights 
and properties, including 4,000,000 acres in Southern Rho- 
desia, 2,500,000 acres in Northeastern Rhodesia, a half in- 
terest in the land of Northwestern Rhodesia for forty years, 
and the township plots, irrigation works, live stock, ete. 
1 The Times (London), July 17, 1924, based on a report of the Company 
for the eighteen months ended September 30, 1923.