"The drawbacks in the management of the railroads in the Cape that call for removal arise from the extent to which, and the manner in which, the authority of Parliament is exercised. They are twofold in their character, viz.:
"(1) The practice of public authorities, influential persons, and others bent on securing concessions or other advantages which the general manager has either refused in the conscientious exercise of his functions, or is not likely to grant, making representation to the Commissioner (as the ministerial head of the Government), supplemented by such pressure, political influence, or other means as are considered perfectly legitimate in their way, and are best calculated to attain the end applicants have in view.
"(Many members of Parliament act similarly in the interests of the districts, constituents, or railroad employes in whom they happen to be interested. It is by no means unknown for the requests in both classes of cases to coincide somewhat with a critical division in Parliament—present or in prospect—or otherwise something has occurred which is regarded as irritating to the public or embarrassing to the Government, and the desire to minimize the effect by some conciliatory act is not unnatural.)
"(2) The extent to which the fictitious, and often transitory, importance which a community or district manages to acquire obscures (under the guise of the Colony's welfare) the consideration of the railroad and general interest in the Colony as a whole."
(During the earlier period of my railroad service in the Cape Colony few things impressed me more, coming as I had from a railroad conducted on strictly business lines, than the extent to which the conduct of railroad affairs was influenced by certain conditions. Nor was this impression lessened afterwards when, in the course of a conversation on the matter, Sir Charles Elliott mentioned to me that he had more than once told a late railway commissioner, "The Government is powerful, but [mentioning the town and authority] is more powerful still.")
"I do not regard it as open to doubt that the Colony as a whole has suffered severely in consequence, the inland portions of the Colony particularly so; and that the need for a remedy is pressing if the railroads are to be conducted as a business concern for the benefit of the Colony.
"The necessity for the railroads and their administration being removed from such an atmosphere, and treated as a most valuable means of benefiting the Colony as a whole, while not neglecting the interests of a district (but not subordinating the welfare of the whole Colony thereto), is pressing. That there should be an authority to refer to in case of real necessity, where the decision or action of the general manager is not regarded as being in the public interests, is also clear. But it is equally manifest that the Commissioner or the Government of the day, with political or party consideration always in view, is not the proper court of reference.
"There can be little doubt that in the Cape Colony political considerations have influenced the adoption of new lines and their construction—many, if not most of them of an unprofitable character—without sufficient inquiry or information, often with scanty particulars, and possibly contrary to the advice of the officer afterwards entrusted with the construction and working of the line.
"A material change is imperatively necessary in this respect, if only to insure the solvency of the Colony."
VICTORIAN (AUSTRALIA) RAILROADS.