A NEW AFRICAN RAILWAY.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4262, 23 January 1901, Page 4

A NEW AFRICAN RAILWAY.

A recent writer haft" declared that “the throne of Menelik. of • Abyssinia, ‘King of Kings’ and ‘Lion.of Judah,’ is not' acessible to ’the common herd.” As that writer is French, this may ,he only another way of saying that the sub. jeets of the Republic who frequently oh. tain audiences, and, what is more, concessions, at Adis-Abeba are very distinguished persons. However that may be, a cable message the other morning informed ns that at least one of the concessions obtained by these superior diplomats has hot been, as successful as its promoters once desired. The information is that the French concession for a railway from the Red Sea port of Jibu til to Adis-Abeba, the Abyssinian capital, about 000 miles" t 6 the south-west, is' about to be financed by British capitalists. That the concession was not successfully carried out in French hands is the natural sequel to'a -story which culminated iii the still unforgotten Fashoda incident. w hen Major Marchand was getting ready, on the upper waters of the French Congo, for his advance on the Nile. Prince Henry of Orleans was scheming near the throne, of the “ King of Kings ” and “ Lion of Judah” for a railway concession from Jibuti! through Abyssinia to the Nile Valley. It was at the time generally believed-that he had succeeded. British diplomacy lost no time in countering this attempt of the Republic to mahe a short road from the East between Marchand’s troops and their nearest base, and the result was the mission of Mr Benel Rod. Prince Henry, not being of the “vulgar herd,” certainly succeeded,, to some extent, at all events, in getting his concession. The authority he got from the redoubtable Abyssinian potentate purported to be a passport to M. Bouchamps, the Prince’s friend, authorising him, among other tilings, to “plant my flag on. the Nile from. Baro to the" White Nile.” If M. Bouchamps, who had been sent by the Minister of the Colonies to meet Major Marchand. acted with the full cognisance of the Republican. Government, which he probably did, it is plain, enough that in return for a free passage'from the

Red Sea across Abyssinian territory, the Government was prepared to allow the Abyssinian King to co-operate with jfc in cutting across the British sphere of activity in the Upper Nile Yalley. But before M. Ecu champs started with his remarkable passport, Lord Kitchener had captured Khartoum and paralysed Major Marchand at Fash, oda. For one brief moment it looked as if tliis was but the beginning of a War of giants. Happily, it ended in Major Marchand marching off with the honours of war, through Abyssinia, showing the last of the flag ever destined; to be seen along the route so carefully and skilfully prepared for its permanept Occupation. Naturally, the French railway concession has lost its strategic character, and has acquired a commercial and British aspect. Ivory, coffee, and hides are the chief commodities of trade, and gold has been found. The French, at Meuelik's request, Died to work the. gold with hand labour, and failed. But the rainy season lasts six months, and hydraulic sluicing is well understood by British experts. The revived project- for this now African railway begins to be interesting; its success may mean as great an impetus to trade and prosperity in the north as the conclusion of peace will bring_m the south of the Dark Continent.