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