RAILWAYS.
I have already mentioned that, in my interview with the President, Paul Kruger, I told him that I was never in a country, which, in my opinion, required railways more than the Transvaal, and that I hoped to see the day when it would be penetrated by them in every direction. It is much to be regretted that there is so much jealous rivalry, inducing fierce contention, as to the precise direction, from the east, or south, or west, railroads should enter the Transvaal. I contend, that there is such a prospect of future enormous development in this wonderful centre of South Africa, that there is no need for all this rivalry, but that there is room for many lines in which all may participate and prosper, in the future. Political considerations have undoubtedly complicated a question, which I should wish to regard solely from its commercial aspect.
Personally, I am anxious to see the line over the ground which I have myself treked, pushed on as speedily as possible, from Kimberley to Vryburg, and thence through British Bechuanaland to Mafeking, and so on, northwards, into the Matabele country, with branches eastward into the Transvaal. But I should like, also, to see the contemplated line constructed from Kimberley, through the Orange Free State, to Bloemfontein; and the Delagoa Bay Railway carried on to Pretoria, as well as the Natal line to Johannesburg; and, in fact, any other, whether through Swaziland, or elsewhere, which commercial enterprise may hereafter project. They will all have the effect of opening up the Transvaal—the El Dorado of South Africa—and meeting the demand for the transit of the enormous traffic, with which the old system of bullock wagons is utterly unable to grapple, and which, consequently, is so fearfully congested. The transport riders will have ample compensation, under the new system, in their increased employment in the conveyance of goods from the various stations to their actual destination. It was in this way the coach proprietors, without loss, and with great advantage to themselves, became the great and successful railway carriers, when stage coaches were superseded by railways in England.
Since I arrived in England, Sir Gordon Sprigg, in an important speech delivered at Kimberley, referred to the question of railway extension from that town in the following words:—"With the South Atlantic Ocean for our base, we started with our railway, and then we came up to Kimberley. From this place we have only fifty or sixty miles to go over, and then we come to the border of this province, and of British Bechuanaland. Farther north, we get to that ill-defined sphere, called the sphere of influence, that extended the power of Britain in South Africa, as far as the Zambesi.... Now that we have our railway up to Kimberley, we have the British South African Company to take it in hand, and the object of the Government is to see that we have an extension line into these territories which will, in time to come, be recognised as portions of the Cape Colony. Gentlemen, I and my colleagues have come to the conclusion, that we cannot better advance the best interests of South Africa than by joining hand-in-hand to advance British interests westward of the Transvaal State, and right up to the Zambesi. Well, then, that being so, I may say, that the first object of the Company, in order to carry on their operations to the best purpose, is to construct a railway from Kimberley to Vryburg. The section from Kimberley to Warrenton has, of course, first to be undertaken, and from there on to Vryburg, as the second section. The Company are in possession of the requisite funds to carry out this great work; and there is no reason why it should not be accomplished before many month's are over. The Government of this country (Cape Colony) have come to the conclusion that it is desirable that this work should be carried out, and an arrangement has been made between the Government of this country and Mr. Rhodes as representing the British South African Company, whereby a railway starting from Kimberley up to Vryburg will be constructed by the British South African Company. Certain conditions have been entered into between the Company and the Government of this Colony, under which the Government of the Colony will have the right to take over the railway at any time they think proper, on certain conditions to be entered into by one side or the other. This railway extension is to be immediately proceeded with. You may take it as a moral certainty that you will be able to travel by railway up to Warrenton, some time in the course of next year. The Government have come to the conclusion that it is in the interests of South Africa that this work shall be carried on; that, in short, it would be highly injudicious to place any obstacles in the way of an undertaking which is calculated to have so beneficial an effect on the prospects of this part of Her Majesty's Empire." This Speech, coming from the Premier of the Cape Colony, requires no comment from me, beyond the expression of my satisfaction at its having been made.
