10 



AFRICA, SOUTHERN, COLONIES IN. 



Portuguese East Africa. The Portuguese 

 possessions on the east coast of Africa have an 

 area of about 301,000 square miles, with an esti- 

 mated population of 3,120,000. Mozambique, Zam- 

 lic/ia, and Lourengo Marques are the chief prov- 

 inces. The Manica and Sofala regions in the south 

 are administered under a royal charter by the 

 Mu/ainbique Company and the district betweeen 

 the Rovuma, Lake N'yasa, and the Lurio by the 

 Nyasa Company. Inhambane is now under the 

 colonial administration, and Gazaland, where dis- 

 turbances have occurred, is governed as a military 

 district. The revenue for 1898 was estimated at 

 4,232,326 milreis, and expenditure at 3,945,765 

 milreis. The imports at the port of Mozambique 

 for 1898 were valued at 174,456, and exports in 

 1897 at 160,571 ; imports at Quilimane in 1898 at 

 67,557, and exports at 71,533; imports at Beira 

 at 911,163, exports at 31,106, and transit trade 

 at 176,606; imports at Chinde at 379,275 milreis, 

 and exports at 550,358 milreis; imports at Lou- 

 r-n<;o Marques at 751,931, and exports at 16,- 

 800. The Delagoa Bay Railroad extends from Lou- 

 renco Marques 57 miles to the Transvaal border, 

 and thence 290 miles to Pretoria. The Beira Rail- 

 road has a length of 203 miles in Portuguese terri- 

 tory and is continued from the frontier of British 

 South Africa to Salisbury. There are 950 miles of 

 telegraphs. The colonial military force consists of 

 1,642 Europeans and 3,246 natives. The Beira 

 Railroad was the outcome of an agceement made 

 between Great Britain and Portugal on June 11, 

 1891, mainly for the purpose of fixing the respec- 

 tive frontiers in consequence of the occupation of 

 Mashonaland and Matabeleland by the British 

 South Africa Company. The frontier question was 

 not settled till later, but in the agreement of 1891 

 the Portuguese Government undertook to con- 

 struct a railroad from the frontier to the sea at 

 Beira, and agreed not to impose any transit duties 

 higher than 3 per cent. The concession for the 

 railroad, originally granted to the Mozambique 

 Company, was transferred to an English syndicate, 

 which completed the line up to the frontier at 

 Umtali in July, 1898. From there to Salisbury, 

 a distance of 170 miles, the line was constructed 

 with guarantee of interest from the British South 

 Africa Company. The journey from Beira to 

 Umtali takes two days, as the service is very 

 slow. When the British military authorities 

 wished to send a body of troops under Sir Fred- 

 erick Carrington into Rhodesia to march to the 

 relief of Mafeking after the failure of the force 

 that attempted to advance from the south after 

 the siege of Kimberley was raised, a request was 

 presented to the Portuguese Government to allow 

 the troops to be transported over the Beira Rail- 

 road. The Boer governments protested against 

 the proposed violation of neutrality, intimating 

 that they would regard permission for the passage 

 of British troops through Portuguese territory as 

 tantamount to a hostile action. No other Gov- 

 ernment supported their objection, and the Portu- 

 guese Government, while denying any hostile in- 

 tention against the Boers, insisted that by treaty 

 with England Portugal was bound to permit the 

 passage of British troops. This right of way was 

 stipulated as one of the conditions under which 

 C.ri'Ht Britain recognized Portuguese rule in the 

 I Vim territory in (In- extension given to it in 

 the Anglo-Portuguese agreement. A secret Anglo- 

 <;n 111:111 agreement to respect the integrity of Por- 

 tuguese possessions in Africa was made at a time 

 when Portugal was in financial difficulties and 

 when the two governments were disposed to 

 guarantee the success of a loan which might be 

 secured on the colonial customs receipts. 



Delagoa Bay Award. After the confiscation 

 of the unfinished Delagoa Bay Railroad by the 

 Portuguese Government the American and British 

 governments, on behalf of contractors and bond- 

 holders, made a protest, and as the result of nego- 

 tiations it was agreed to refer the controversy to 

 the arbitration of the Swiss Federal Council. The 

 Swiss Government appointed an arbitration tri- 

 bunal in June, 1891. This tribunal did not de- 

 liver its judgment till March 29, 1900. The 

 original charter for the railroad from Lourengo 

 Marques to the Transvaal frontier was granted in 

 December, 1883, to Col. Edward McMurdo, an 

 American citizen, who in May, 1884, organized a 

 Portuguese company. The Transvaal Government 

 signed a convention with the Portuguese Govern- 

 ment by which it agreed, as soon as the railroad 

 should reach the frontier, to continue it to Pre- 

 toria. By the terms of the McMurdo concession 

 the company had the right to fix the rates to be 

 charged on the railroad and to operate the same 

 for ninety-nine years, unless the Portuguese Gov- 

 ernment exercised its reserved right of purchasing 

 the line after thirty-five years. The Portuguese 

 Government bound itself not to construct or per- 

 mit a competing line within 100 kilometres on 

 either side. The absolute right to fix tariffs 

 granted to the American concessionaire was ob- 

 jectionable to the Transvaal Government, which 

 obtained from the Portuguese Government a secret 

 provisional concession for a tramway to be built 

 in case the Delagoa Bay Company failed to com- 

 plete the line to the frontier within a reasonable 

 time, and to be used for the conveyance of passen- 

 gers and freight if the company would not come 

 to an agreement with the Transvaal authorities 

 establishing reasonable rates for the through 

 traffic. Col. McMurdo finally formed a company 

 in England in March, 1887, to build the line under 

 the Portuguese charter, the Lisbon authorities 

 having meanwhile denied that they had any secret 

 agreement with the Transvaal. The construction 

 by an English syndicate of the Delagoa Bay sec- 

 tion of what was intended to be the national 

 Transvaal Railroad, giving an outlet on the sea- 

 board independent of the railroads of Cape Colony 

 and Natal, was not regarded with favor in Pre- 

 toria when this syndicate retained the unrestricted 

 power to fix and regulate tariffs. It was to the 

 secret influence of the Transvaal Government, 

 moved by these political considerations, that the 

 subsequent action of the Portuguese Government 

 was attributed. The frontier was assumed to be 

 about 80 kilometres from the coast, but it had 

 never been fixed. The Government finally settled 

 on a line and demanded of the company that the 

 railroad should be completed up to it within a 

 certain time. The company protested that the 

 period was too short. Nevertheless as soon as it 

 expired the Portuguese Government confiscated 

 and took possession of the railroad, which it com- 

 pleted and has since operated in conjunction with 

 the Dutch company that built and operated the 

 main part of the line in Transvaal territory. The 

 English company applied to the British Govern- 

 ment for its assistance and the widow of Col. 

 McMurdo, the original concessionaire, he having 

 died in the meantime, applied to the American 

 Government. In accordance with the agreement 

 concluded in 1891 the three arbitrators were to 

 determine the amount of compensation to be paid 

 to the claimants by the Portuguese Government 

 for the seizure of the railroad and the cancellation 

 of the concession, which included a considerable 

 grant of lands. The long delay was charged by 

 the claimants to the arbitrators, while the latter 

 said that the parties to the suit filed such a mass 





