124 



CAPE COLONY AND SOUTH AFRICA. 



trator and Legislative Council go into effect as 

 soon as they have been approved by the High 

 Commissioner, but any ordinance may be can- 

 celed within twelve months by the Secretary of 

 State in London. A Secretary for Native Affairs 

 is to protect the liberties and interests of the 

 natives, who shall enjoy all the rights of Euro- 

 peans except in regard to the possession of arms 

 and ammunition and the purchase and consump- 

 tion of spirituous liquors. Land shall be as- 

 signed from time to time for tribal settlement, 

 and whenever such land is reclaimed for mineral 

 development by the company, which reserves all 

 mining rights." new lands must be assigned^ to 

 the natives whose occupation is disturbed. The 

 authorized capital of the British South Africa 

 Company is 5,000.000. It has issued 4,375,000 

 of shares and debentures for 1,250,000. 



The area of British South Africa, or Southern 

 Rhodesia, is 174.728 square miles, divided into 

 Matabeleland, which has an area of 60,728 square 

 miles and a population estimated at 240,000, and 

 Mashonaland, which has an area of 114,000 

 square miles, with about 210,000 inhabitants. 

 The country is rich in gold reefs, which extend 

 over an area of 5.250 square miles. Silver, cop- 

 per, lead, tin, antimony, arsenic, and coal have 

 also been discovered. The Administrator of 

 Mashonaland is W. H. Milton. Matabeleland lias 

 also an Administrator, Capt. A. Lawley. The 

 Chartered Company derives its revenue from 

 mining, trade, and professional licenses, town 

 business stands, and the postal and telegraph 

 services. The railroad from Kimberley to Vry- 

 burg, 120 miles, built by the British South Africa 

 Company, and afterward transferred to the Cape 

 Government, has been extended by the Bechuana- 

 land Railroad Company to Buluwayo, the capi- 

 tal of Matabeleland, with the aid of a subsidy 

 for ten years of 20,000 a year from the Imperial 

 and 10,000 from the Cape Government. It is 

 intended to continue the line to the Zambesi, and 

 eventually to Tanganyika, and perhaps through 

 Congo State or German territory to Uganda and 

 the Nile. The Rhodesia and African Transcon- 

 tinental Telegraph Company, organized for the 

 purpose of building a continuous telegraph line 

 through the length of Africa by the same route, 

 had 2,035 miles of line, with 3,013 miles of wire, 

 in September, 1898. A railroad outlet for the 

 Mashonaland mines has been provided by the 

 Beira Railway Company, which opened the line 

 from Beira, on the Portuguese coast, to New 

 Umtali in 1808. This railroad has been contin- 

 ued to Salisbury by the Mashonaland Railway 

 Company, and was opened on May 1, 1899. The 

 link between Salisbury and Buluwayo has not 

 yet been completed. The extension to the fron- 

 tier from Buluwayo and branch lines to Gwanda 

 and other gold fields and the coal deposits at 

 Wankie have been undertaken by the Bechuaria- 

 land Railway Company, transformed into the 

 Rhodesia Railways Company, in which the Char- 

 tered Company has one half and the De Beers 

 Company and the Bechuanaland Railway Trust 

 each one quarter interest. The Chartered Com- 

 pany and the gold companies have contributed 

 to the bonds of the Rhodesia Railways Company, 

 which has a grant of alternate blocks of all the 

 lands along the railroads and the exclusive ri^ht 

 of building new railroads in Rhodesia. Mr. 

 Rhodes sought to obtain the guarantee of the 

 Imperial Government for the capital necessary 

 to extend the line to the Zambesi, but this was 

 refused. The Chartered Company then offered 

 to guarantee the bonds issued for the line 

 through its territory up to Lake Tanganyika. 



The route traverses various gold fields, the Ma- 

 fungabesi coal fields, and a promising copper field 

 on the Karfui river, north of the Zambesi. The 

 railroad from Vryburg to Buluwayo has a length 

 of GOO miles. The next section of the projected 

 Cape to Cairo trunk line will run northeast to 

 Gwelo, 250 miles; thence the intention is to carry 

 it northward at a distance from the sea of from 

 500 miles, at which the route crosses the Zambesi, 

 up to 800 miles, to some point in Uganda, where 

 it will connect with an extension of the Egyp- 

 tion system. The route north of Gwelo traverses 

 first an extensive auriferous region, then a wide, 

 level coal area, then the fertile valley of the 

 Zambesi, beyond which it rises gradually to the 

 plateau overlooking the Loangwa valley. This 

 plateau, having an altitude of nearly 0,000 feet, 

 is ^ suitable for cattle rearing or agriculture, and 

 lies midway between Nyassa and Bangweolo 

 lakes, reaching to Lake Tanganyika, about 1,500 

 miles from Gwelo. The railroad from Vryburg 

 to Buluwayo cost 2,000,000; from there to the 

 Zambesi the estimated cost is 900,000, and the 

 cost of the continuation to Tanganyika is esti- 

 mated at 3,000,000. This sum was obtained at 

 par and 4 per cent, in the summer of 1899. The 

 railroad is expected not only to open up new 

 regions to European settlement and enterprise, 

 but to supply Rhodesia with needed fuel from 

 the Mafungabesi coal fields and the still more 

 needed labor from the populous countries north 

 of the Zambesi, where the natives are willing 

 and eager to work for Os. a month, whereas in 

 Southern Rhodesia 4 is the present rate in the 

 mines. From the south to the north end of Tan- 

 ganyika, 400 miles, steamboats will at first con- 

 nect the railroad with the one running through 

 German territory for 450 miles to the southern 

 frontier of Uganda. The hope of obtaining the 

 aid of imperial credit, thereby saving 250,000 

 a year in interest on a probable cost of 10,000,- 

 000 for the whole line, has not been abandoned. 

 The telegraph line is being erected with capital 

 furnished by Mr. Rhodes and his associates. The 

 total length from the Cape to Alexandria is 

 0,670 miles, of which the Cape system from Cape 

 Town to Mafeking supplies 870, and the Egyptian 

 system, when carried to Fashoda, 2,090 miles. 

 The Chartered Company has built the link be- 

 tween that point and Salisbury, 985 miles, and 

 the African Transcontinental Company, of which 

 Mr. Rhodes is the principal shareholder, has un- 

 dertaken to construct the 2,725 miles connecting 

 Salisbury with the southern boundary of the 

 Soudan. Early in 1899 Mr. Rhodes had a con- 

 ference with the German Emperor, and through 

 him obtained from the German Government the 

 right of way for the telegraph line through Ger- 

 man East Africa on condition that at the end 

 of forty years the line should pass into the pos- 

 session of the Government, which undertook, 

 however, to make no higher charges for through 

 telegraphy than were necessary to pay the cost 

 of maintenance. 



Rhodesia has not advanced in population or 

 prosperity since the first influx of immigrants, 

 partly because the mines are not profitable under 

 present conditions and the climate is not at- 

 tractive to European settlers, partly also on ac- 

 count of the peculiar land and mining laws of 

 the Chartered Company. At the time when the 

 country was being settled a large number of. 

 Dutch farmers were induced to leave other parts 

 of South Africa by promises of grants of land 

 and assistance. Only a few of these obtained the 

 promised farms. The others found temporary 

 employment, principally as transport riders, but 



