237
33.
82
It may be presumed that the bulk of the traffic will be through traffic to and from Beira. The distance from that port to the luke terminus at Pagonas will be 451 miles, made up as follows:-
Beira-Junction with Trans-Zambesia Railway (Beira Junction Railway) Junction Chindio (Trans-Zambesia Railway)
Chindio-Port Herald (Central African Railway) Port Herald-Luchenza (Shire Highlands Railway) Luchenza-Lake Terminus (Government Railway)....
Total
Miles.
20
165
61
80
125
451
This may be compared with the length of the Uganda Railway from Mombasa to Lake Victoria, which is 587 miles.
34. Some guidance may be obtained from the results of the two existing railways. The capital expenditure on these taken together, up to the end of 1918, was £884,870 plus £495,844 £1,330,714 (£7,648 per mile), and their joint net receipts (deducting the payment made to the Shire Highlands Railway for management as part of the working expenses) amounted in 1917 to £31,795 plus 9,429 £41,224, and in 1918 to £33,071 plus £7,637= £40,708, i.e., in each year to about 3 per cent, on the capital cost. This result has been attained after several years of working.
35. On the other hand the new Government line is estimated to cost £11,287 per mile (about half as much again), and the interest and sinking fund charges will certainly not be less than 7 per cent. on the capital cost. There is bound to be, moreover, for several years a deficit on working which must be added to the capital cost; and allowing for this, it would appear that, if the line is ultimately to pay for itself, the net annual receipts per mile will have to be at least four times the amount obtained from the existing railways in 1917 or 1918. No account is here taken of the revenue which the Government may obtain indirectly from the railway in the shape of increased customs duties and other taxes.
36. The present charges on the main classes of goods traffic, so far as I can make out, are as stated in the first four columns of the following table:-
83
42. Sir R. Antrobus, late Crown Agent for the Colonies, is (overnment Director of the Trans-Zambesi Railway Company.
X, Provision of Construction Funds.
43. In the East African Protectorates (Loans) Act of 1914 provision was made for the loan by the Treasury to the Nyasaland Protectorate of £540,000 for the construction of the ailway under consideration, and £20,000 for facilities at the lake terminus. Of this total sum of £560,000 about £5,000 has been spent on the survey, leaving a balance of about £555,000. It is doubtful whether this money could be obtained at present from the Treasury, and in any event it would only cover about half the present estimated cost of construction.
44. A loan might be issued by the Protectorate Government in the London market, but such stock would not be a trustee security, and the terms would be onerous. The 6 per cent Trans-Zambesia Railway debentures recently issued, which were guaranteed for 25 years by the Nyasaland Government, were issued at 93, but the issue was a failure, and the price fell at once to 88.
45. If the Protectorate (or any part of it) were annexed and made into a Colony, a lonz could be issued by the Colonial Government as a trustee security and could be obtained or better terms. The loan charges, including sinking fund contribution, would probably amount to at least 7 per cent, on the net amount realised. On the estimated cost of construction (making no allowance for meeting out of capital the deficits during the first years of working) the annual charges would be about £100,000, or about two-thirds of the annual revenue of the Protectorate.
46. Any loan now obtained from the Treasury under the Act of 1914 would be charged with interest at 6 per cent., plus sinking fund contribution, and, as it would constitute a prior charge on the revenues of the Protectorate (or Colony), would affect the price of a loan issued on the credit of the latter. It may be doubted, therefore, whether there would be any advantage in obtaining any part of the construction money from the Treasury,
16th June, 1920.
P. H. EZECHIEL.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference
CO 885/26
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
No. 13.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNOR OF NYASALAND.
(Confidential.)
[Answered by Nos. 14, 15, 17.]
*Chindio
to
Port Herald
Port Herald to Luchenza
(61 miles).
(80 miles).
Chindio to Luchenza (141 miles).
Hate per ton Proportionate Proportionate mile, Chindio rate, Beirs to rate, Beirs to to Luchenza Luchen Eake Nyasa (141 miles). (326 miles). (451 miles).
36789.
8.
d.
B. d.
d.
d.
d.
4. d.
Imported goods and general
20 0
76 0
96 0
8.2
223 0
-
308 0
merchandise (ton by weight
or measurement at option of railway).
SIR,
Cotton, coffee (ton weight)
20
48 6
5.8
158 0
218 0
Tobacco in balea, tes
15 0
48 6
5.4
147
203 0
...
Tobacco in canka
20 8
61 4
76 0
6.5
177 0
244 0
Maize, seed cotton, rice, ground
nuts, oil seeds.
7 8
16 4
24 0
2.0
54 0
75 0
• Rates shortly to be revised.
37. By way of comparison it may be mentioned that the rate for cotton on the Uganda Railway from the terminus on Lake Victoria to Mombasa (587 miles) is Rs. 133.73 or 267. 6d per ton. Proportionate rates have been assumed in the above table, but no doubt the rates between Beira and Chindio or Port Herald will be kept down by water competition, as they are at present between Chindio and Port Herald.
IX. Working Arrangements with the Railway Companies.
38. It will be noted that goods travelling between the proposed railway and the sea at Beira will have to travel over lines owned by four railway companies, and will also have to pay the port charges at Beira, over which the Nyasaland Government has no control.
39. It seems very necessary for the Government, before embarking on the construction of their line, to come to some arrangement with the railway companies as regards the working of the through traffic and the through rates to be charged. It may even be desirable, for economy in administration, to arrange that the Government line should, like the Central Africa line, be worked by the Shire Highlands Railway, the present manager of which, as stated above, is Mr. Roy, the former Government Railway Survey Officer.
40. The railway companies are connected with each other. The Shire Highlands Railway and the Central Africa Railway have the same offices and secretary, and the Trans- Zambesi Railway Co. is also in the same offices, with a different secretary. Mr. Libert Oury and Mr. Norman Dickson are directors of all three companies, and the former is also on the Board of the Beira Junction Railway.
41. The Shire Highlands Railway Co. is controlled by the British Central Africa Co., and Sir J. D. Rees, M.P., and Mr. Libert Oury are directors of both.
Downing Street, 26th July, 1920.
WITH reference to my telegram of the 5th of December last, I have the honour to transmit to you the accompanying copy of a report,† with its annexure,‡ prepared by a Sub. Committee of the Colonial Economic Development Committee, on the proposed construction of a railway from Luchenza to Lake Nyam.
2. Owing to the recess, there will not be a meeting of the Committee until the 13th of October, and I am anxious to make use of the interval by obtaining your views on the considera- tions indicated by the Sub-Committee, and, in particular, I should be glad to be furnished with such figures as you can obtain as to the probable traffic on the line when first open and after (say) five years, the extent to which land in the Lake area or along the route of the proposed railway has been, orvis being, taken up, and the degree in which any loss on the railway might in your opinion be counter-balanced by its benefit to the progress of the Protectorate.
3. With regard to the last sentence of the report, a caller at this office has recently stated that motor communication between Liwonde and the Lake is now open all the year round. I shall be glad to be informed whether this is the case, and how the cost of transport by road compares with the probable cost of transport by the proposed railway.
4. The statement in the report that a sum of £1,500,000 might be available for Nyasaland under the East African Protectorates (Loans) Act, 1914, is based on the fact that if the East Africa Protectorate issues a loan in the open market, as is intended, it is not likely to be in a position to avail itself of the unissued portion of the sum allocated to it under the Act. That unissued portion is £1,107,605, and under the terms of the Act it is possible, with the consent of the Treasury, to vary the original allocations as between the Protectorates. As regards Nyasaland, after making allowance for the first three years' interest on the recent advance, the unissued portion is £757,652, making £1,865,257 in all, of which (with a similar allowance for interest, which may be assumed to be 61 per cent.) £1,554,381 would be available for actual expenditure. You will understand that it is quite impossible to give any indication whether the arrangement could be adopted. You will no doubt, however, bear this possibility in mind in framing your recommendations as to the construction of the railway or as to any alternative means of transport which you can suggest,
⚫68728; not printed.
† Report III., page 19.
No. 12, page 77.