Correspondents include: Joseph Chamberlain taking back his allegation that WSC had exploited the issue of Chinese indentured labour in the Transvaal [South Africa] in his election campaign; 2nd Lord Selborne, [Governor of the Transvaal] and High Commissioner for South Africa (5); Sir John Vine; Abe Bailey (2); Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson [Governor and Commander in Chief, Cape Colony, South Africa] on his future prospects and career to date; Sir Godfrey Lagden, the Commissioner for Native Affairs, Transvaal, on native taxation; Herbert de Reuter [Auguste Reuter] on a business arrangement; James Kier Hardie on the "great cattle sweep" in northern Natal [South Africa] at the beginning of the Boer War; Frederic Tatham on the "native question" in Natal (2); John Burns [President of the Local Government Board]; 9th Lord Elgin and Kincardine [Secretary of State for the Colonies]; Herbert Asquith [later 1st Lord Oxford and Asquith, Chancellor of the Exchequer]; Adam Jameson, Commissioner of Lands in the Transvaal, on land settlement; John Morley [Secretary of State for India]; Thomas Bowles MP; 1st Lord Loreburn [earlier Robert Reid, Lord Chancellor]; Dudley Marjoribanks [later 3rd Lord Tweedmouth, Military Secretary to Selborne]; Sir John Walton [Attorney-General]; R Outhwaite; Frederic Creswell (3); Harry Brodie MP; Sir Edward Grey [Foreign Secretary]; Leonard Courtney; Sir Henry Drummond Wolff on court martials in the colonies.Also includes notes, drafts of telegrams, and copy letters from WSC to those mentioned above [some in the hand of his private secretary, Edward Marsh].Subjects covered in the file include: matters relating to the Transvaal Constitution, including the voting system for the assembly, the effect of the uncertainty on the South African economy, and criticism of 1st Lord Milner [former High Commissioner for South Africa]; chinese labour, the mining industry, and employing Indian coolies in the Transvaal; matters relating to the Orange River Colony [later Orange Free State, South Africa]; Chamberlain's role in South African affairs; a rumour that WSC had been colluding over the selling of South African stock; the holding of land by natives.Also includes: printed copies of telegrams between Elgin and Selborne; cutting on disturbances in Natal.