This
Makes It Possible To Convey A Ton At The Rate Of A Halfpenny A Mile,
While It Would Require About 53,000 Pounds To Build A Railway Only
Eighteen Miles Long."
The Congo Free State railway I am informed, has cost, at a rate per
mile, something like eight times this.
Further on Mr. Elliot says:
"In America the surplus population of Europe, and the markets in the
Eastern States have made railway development profitable on the
whole, but in Africa, until pioneer work has been done, and the
prospects of colonisation and plantation are sufficiently definite
and settled to induce colonists to go out in considerable numbers,
it will be ruinous to build a long railway line."
I do not quote these figures to discourage the West Coaster from his
railway, but only to induce him to get his Government to make it in
the proper direction, namely, into the interior, where further
development of trade is possible. Judging from other things in
English colonies, I should expect, if left to the spirit of English
(West Coast) enterprise, it would run in a line that would enable
the engine drivers to keep an eye on the Atlantic Ocean instead of
the direction in which it is high time our eyes should be turned. I
confess I am not an enthusiast on civilising the African. My idea
is that the French method of dealing with Africa is the best at
present. Get as much of the continent as possible down on the map
as yours, make your flag wherever you go a sacred thing to the
native - a thing he dare not attack.
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