holders put together, although they only provided one-third of the
capital, was the work of Dr. Leyds. The contract for the construction of
the first 70 miles is not less surprising. Messrs. Van Hattum & Co. were
to build the line, at a cost mutually to be agreed upon by them and the
railway company; and they were to receive as remuneration 11 per cent.
upon the amount of the specification. The 11 per cent. was to be
proportionately decreased by a sliding scale so arranged that it
disappeared by the time Van Hattum & Co. had exceeded the contract price
by 100 per cent. Beyond that the company had the right to cancel the
contract. From this it follows, that, by deciding to lose the 11 per
cent., Messrs. Van Hattum could make a gain of 89 per cent. This they
did, and whole sections of earthworks, which should not have cost £8,000
per mile, cost £23,000 instead. A thousand Hollanders were brought out
to work on the line; and sent home again at the expense of the
Government. In a country which abounded in stone, the Komati Bridge was
built of dressed stone imported from Holland, with the cost of a transit
of 7,000 miles.


4.--_The Drift Question._

The Cape Colony Free State Railway ends at the Vaal River, 50 miles from
Johannesburg. Thence goods are transmitted by the Netherlands Railway at
a charge of 8-1/2d. per ton per mile, the rate being 3d. over the rest
of the line.

In order to escape this rate manufacturers resorted to the use of
ox-wagons; Mr. Krüger forbade them the drifts in order to compel the
transit of goods by railway. This was another flagrant violation of
Article 14 of the Convention of 1884, which called forth the