THE GAPE TO CAIRO RAILWAY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9641, 16 January 1903, Page 4

THE GAPE TO CAIRO RAILWAY.

♦ AN AMERICAN REPORT. Tho United States Consular reports contain an article by the Consul at ' Beirut on the progress of the Cape to Cairo railway project. It will be remembered that recent announcements have been made as to the construction of the line m Rhodesia, via the Wankie coalfields, the expectation being that the Victoria Falls on the Zambesi will be reached before the end of next year. From the Victoria Falls the line is to be continued due north to the Congo Free State border, and thence it will be carried through that State under the agreement signed m Brussels m April last. The route will be via Katanga (where there are valuable copper mines) to Lake Kasali, the most -southerly navigable point on the Lualaba River, wliich is one of the principal reaches of the Congo. Approximated, the distances to be covered are : Bulawayo to Victoria Falls, 300 miles; Victoria Falls to Lake Kasali, 700 miles. From Stanley Falls to the Upper Congo a railway will be built to Mahagi on Lake Albert Nyanza (480 miles), this supplying the missing link between the Cape and the Egyptian railway nets. THE BELGIAN AND GERMAN ROUTES. * Such is the scope of the concession wliich Mr Robert Williams obtained from the King of the Belgians. This project does not, however, necessarily replace the original central line through German territory, as planned by Mr Rhodes and the German Government. In fact, it is quite likely, if the proposed railroad be* built from the coast of Dar-es-Salaain, the capital of German East Africa (either through subsidy granted by the Reicl_stag or by private capital under State guarantee), that the original Cape to Cairo scheme via Tabora will be realised. Both lines may astonish the world before many years as full-fledged realities. All .naps of Africa more than six months old are obsolete, because history is being made so rapidly hi those regions. FEEDERS EAST, WEST, AND NORTH. By joining at Lake Kasali the Cq.ngo Free State river and railway system, the Cape to Cairo railway would secure a western feeder, via Leopoldville and Matadi, of the highest importance. On the east-era' side there' ore already two- feeders m waiting— namely, the Beira-Mashona-land railway (350 miles) and the Mom-basa-Uganda railway (660 miles). For the latter rails had been laid last Christmas as far as Lake Victoria Nyanza. Another prospective eastern feeder is the proposed Suakin-Khartoum line, the construction of which via Berber (350 miles) during the next two years seems to have been recently decided upon by the Soudan Government. This will make Sua_.in, on the Red Sea, instead of Alexandria, the chief port of the Soudan. To these eventual feeders may also be added the French line from Djibouti. tlirough Abyssinia via Horror to the capital of King* Menelik's dominions (430 riiiles), and perhaps to Fashoda, an enterprise wliich, by Act of the Chambers, was recently granted financial support from .the Government of France. COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENTS. The Consul draws the attention of his Government to the markets of Abyssinia, the Soudan, the Congo Free State, Rhodesia, and other growing nations and protectorates m the interior. Rhodesia alone imported during the year ended March 31st, 1901, goods to the amount of 10,267,518 dollars. These figures, he says, indicate only faintly what may be expected m five or ten years. Rhodesia is eight and one-half times. tl_e size of Great Britain, and its natural resources include rich deposit* of gold and of coal, besides fertile lands and forest*. The closing of hostilities m South Africa will give a tremendous impetus to agricultural, industrial, and commercial activity throughout the Continent.