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railway carriers, when stage coaches were superseded by railways in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.
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