194 A COLONY IN THE MAKING chap. 



pared by four very able Royal Engineer surveyors 

 was only ,£2,240,000, while the actual cost has been 

 more than 5^ millions. Secondly, that the construc- 

 tion was supervised by a body whose composition 

 cannot possibly have been conducive to economy. 

 This body was composed of representatives of the 

 Foreign Office, Treasury, Crown Agents, an ex- 

 political agent and two retired Indian officials, who, 

 though most distinguished in their own lines, were, 

 with one exception, absolutely ignorant of technical 

 railway work. Moreover, they did not act in con- 

 junction with the Protectorate Administration, but 

 rather to a great extent in direct opposition. Thirdly, 

 a cost of ,£9,314 per mile through country the large 

 bulk of which did not present any exceptional obstacles 

 cannot be prima facie held strictly economical. Sir 

 Charles Eliot, with all the particulars fresh before 

 him, says : " Everyone who has an adequate know- 

 ledge both of the country and of the history of the 

 construction is agreed that the line ought really to have 

 cost about four millions sterling." 



Whatever may be the exact truth of the economical 

 merits of the original construction, there are no two 

 opinions with respect to the efficiency of the present 

 management. I have often asked various settlers 

 which Government Department they considered the 

 best run in the country — if with a liver temporarily 

 disarranged the question perhaps took the form of 

 " least badly" run — but in either case the answer was 

 almost invariably the same. The railway undoubtedly. 

 No praise can be higher than this ; for by its nature 

 the railway must tend to be rather antagonistic to 

 a farming class. That is to say, farmers and ex- 

 porters must always be trying to get freights cut down 



