39068
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
༢། ་། ། ་། །
Reference :---
C.O.885
16 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
:
No. 188.
(NYASALAND.)
COLONIAL OFFICE to LAW OFFICERS.
[Right of the Shiré Highlands Railway, Nyasaland, Limited, to construct an exten- sion of the Shiré Highlands (Port Herald-Blantyre) Railway from Blan- tyre to Lake Nyasa.]
GENTLEMEN,
Downing Street, 8 December, 1913.
I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Harcourt to transmit to you, herewith, the papers noted in the accompanying list respecting certain questions which have arisen with regard to :-
(a) The right of the Shire Highlands Railway, Nyasaland, Limited (herein- after called "The Company "), to construct an extension of the Shiré Highlands (Port Herald-Blantyre) Railway from Blantyre to Lake Nyasa under the provisions of two contracts with the Government dated the 31st December, 1902, and the 11th of February, 1908, respectively, copies of which accompany these papers;
(b) The period within which such right, if it exists, must be exercised under
the said contracts.
2. I am to invite your attention to the following provisions of the first of the above-mentioned contracts (hereinafter called the principal contract), which was expressed to be made between Sir Ernest Edward Blake, Maurice Alexander Cameron, and William Hepworth Mercer, Crown Agents for the Colonies, acting for the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs on behalf of His Majesty's Govern- ment (thereinafter referred to as "the Government "), of the one part, and the Company, of the other part, and under which the Government granted to the Com- pany the right to construct a line of railway between the points thereinafter men- tioned as the points of commencement and determination of the railway thereinafter described, the general router and direction of the railway being shown on the plan thereunto annexed.
By Clause 2 of the contract it was agreed that subject to, and in accordance with, the provisions of the contract the Company might and should with 'due dili- gence and expedition construct, complete, and equip to the satisfaction of an Engineer to be appointed by the Government to act for the purposes of the contract- (a) A railway for the public carriage of passengers, animals, and goods wholly in the Protectorate, commencing at the terminus station to be situate at such point as might thereafter be fixed by the Engineer at Chiromo, and thence proceeding to Blantyre (and subsequently being extended to Lake Nyasa, where it should terminate at such point on the said lake as might thereafter be fixed by the Engineer, but so that such extension should only be made at such time and upon such terms and conditions in all respects as might thereafter be agreed upon between the Government and the Company), the general course of the railway being shown on the said annexed plan and marked thereon with dotted lines, but the whole route thereof should be subject to the approval of the Engineer.
(b) All such necessary sidings, passing places, stations, lights, offices, engine houses, goods and cattle depôts, turn-tables, signals, signal cabins, tele- graphs, and other works (including suitable landing places, piers, wharves and other conveniences and accommodation at the terminus of the railway both at Chiromo and at Lake Nyasa) as in the opinion of the Engineer should be necessary for the due and efficient main- tenance and working of the railway and for the connection of its traffic with the water-borne traffic at Chiromo or on Lake Nyasa.
The plan annexed to the said contract showed the course of the railway marked with dotted lines between Chiromo and Blantyre, but not between Blantyre and Lake Nyasa.
By Clause 3 of the contract it was provided that the railway should be con- structed and equipped so that the standard of efficiency of such construction and
(12697-2.) Wt 134-872. 25. 6/1, D & 8. G1.