WCP749

[1]¹

Broadstone, Wi<mborne>²

December 1<4> <1905>³

My dear Fred

As the post goes <?> (from Dartmouth) I send you a <few> lines though I have really noth<ing> fresh to say, except that I receive<d> yours of Nov^r. 25th. chiefly about ghosts at S[an]ta. Catalina but also <?> further promising accounts of that <place?> from Captn Boynton⁴. I am really <hoping?> it will prove a second "Ega"⁵ or St. Paul<o?> <?> Bates said he could not have exhausted <it in?> five years. The "lagoons" are promising, for[?] <though?> the "thousands" of butterflies seen in such place<s> <are?> usually of very few species — Callidryas &c. — <there?> are often rare Papilios and many others <among?> them, while among the debris drifted up <?> wind are often swarms of Carabida[e]⁶ & others <?> I do not think you have told me wh<at?> <?> but I presume gold, which I am <?> revolutions in[?] will lead[?] <?> <for?>tunes will <?> [2]⁷ <?> than[?] a mere agricultural colony <?> near an early Spanish settlement with <a?> <mon?>astery promises well for paths &c. and the <proxim?>ity of Indian Villages which I hope have <not?> been driven away by the mines &c. I hope <?> on outcrops of rock, as that is often frequ<ented?> <?>endia[?] butterflies — small streams in the <?>sh[?] with bits of sandy beaches I have[?] seen[?] <?> they are not only most delightful but are <good?> collecting places. Here, the unusually dry <hot?> summer has been followed by a very wet foggy winter, We hardly see the sun more <than> one or two days a week and there are <almo?>st[?] perpetual fogs which make me long <to be?> with you in the sunny glades of S. Catalina. <Last?> week the great event at last occurred — <the?> <Conservativ>e's have resigned and the Liberals are <in power?> <Henry> Campbell-Bannerman is Prime Minister⁸ <He has?> <cert>ainly chosen a good government <?> John Burns⁹ and Lloyd-George¹⁰ <?> Commons[?] [3] which must imply that he will <?> and that something will now be <done for?> the workers and the starving millio<ns.> Others are John Morley¹¹, Mr[?] Bryce¹² and <Lord?> Carrington¹³, the latter the most libera<l> landlord in England who is gradua<lly> letting all his estates in Buckin[g]ham<shire> and Lincolnshire &c in small Hold<ings> to labourers and mechanics at far<m?> rents. Unfortunately there are st<ill> too many lawyers and landlords in[?] Government, & will be in parliam<ent,> to do any really great and just w<ork?> but that is really the people's own <fault?> and till they are educated to see <their?> own interests — which ^are coincident <with?> the general interest — nothing ve<ry?> <much?> can be done. In conclusion <?> anything had[?] of Cap^t Boynt<on> <?> it yourself. And so f<or?> <the?> present, from <?>

[Alfred R Wallace]¹⁴