Transvaal Railways.
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....The capture of rolling-stock at Barberton and Avoca is an illustration of the trend of the war says "Uitlander," in the Argus. When Lord Roberts crossed the Vaal, the Boers withdrew their rolling-stock to Pretoria; directly Lord Roberts came within striking distance of Pretoria the locomotives and carriages were sent eastward—first to Middelburg, then to Belfast, and finally to Barberton, where the greater portion of them fell into General French's hands. The last remnant is somewhere north of Komati Poort, on the Selati railway. A return was recently issued by the Colonial Office, enumerating each of the railways in tne Orange River Colony and Transvaal. The Orange Free State system was state-owned and is therefore part of the new colony's asssets. In the Transvaal it was different. The Netherlands Company, with a share and debenture capital of over £8,000,000, was a private undertaking, with dividends on shares and debentures guaranteed by the State. The Pietersburg railway had a capital (shares and debentures) of £1,500,000, and the Selati railway of £2,000,000. All these railways are now officially transferred to the British military authorities. A very important question in connection with the Delagoa Bay railway is already under discussion in South Africa. Mountains of goods are stored at Delagoa Bay ready to leave for Johannesburg and Pretoria at the first opportunity. Most of the business houses interested in these shipments are Continental firms, and the Cape Town, East London, Port Elizabeth, and Durban firms contend, and with some justice, that while the Cape and Natal railway systems are closed to commercial traffic it would be very unjust to allow Delagoa Bay to get rich on the Transvaal trade. It is further argued that it would be for the benefit of the Cape Colony and of Natal, now that the Netherlands railway has been taken over, to block traffic for Delagoa Bay altogether. Without the Transvaal trade Delagoa Bay would speedily resort to its former state of inactivity. Before the railway was built it was a sleepy place, of no commercial importance. Mr. Kruger did everything in his power to encourage traffic from the Portuguese port at the expense of both Natal and the Cape Colony, and as he had the whip hand, by being able to tax the two latter systems by high freights from the borders to Johannesburg and Pretoria he succeeded in alienating a large volume of business from its proper course. More will probably be heard of this matter in the immediate future.
The Maitland Weekly Mercury, Saturday 29th September 1900