226
| TUBLIA
RECORD OFFICE
། ། ། ། །
Reference :-
885/26
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
60
EXPORTS FROM CROWN COLONIES.
The figures are inclusive of gold and silver bullion and specie. In some cases statistics do not relate to the calendar year shown, but to the year ending March 31st of the year following.
27
11
Figures in thousand pounds.
1913.
T
1901,
Colony.
U.K.
U.S.A.
Tots! Exports.
U.K.
U.S.A.
Total Exporte.
Straits Settlements
Ceylon
5,197 3,341
3,150 25,545
364
10.745
5,285
45,375
5,994
7,041
2,580
15,658
Mauritius...
216
73
1,954
397
3,262
Nyasaland (1902)
28
35
178
248
Uganda (1907)
49
179
272
607
East Africa Protectorate
14
96
687
96
1,483
Zanzibar ...
83
77
1,169
109
48
1.049
Bomaliland
349
225
Nigeria
286
909
3,745
7,325
Gold Coast
254
23
560
3,515
101
5,427
Sierra Loona
88
304
230
1,781
Gambia
26
237
62
867
Jamaica
410
1,273
1,939
424
1,396
2,430
Barbados
68
555
950
79
75
857
Trinidad and Tobago
706
817
2,446
1,159
1,688
6,206
Bermuda
3
91
98
5
82
91
***
British Honduras
131
122
286
78
489
752
808
1,716
1,015
80
643 2,110
Cyprns
123
2*
389
121
2
700
**
Totals
J1,778
7,385
45,155
29,857
11,922
96,321
***
Percentage of total
26.1
16.3
31.3
12.5
All
U.K.
Foreign
Countries.
Total Exports.
U.K.
8
9,340
3,112
All Foreign Countries.
471 17,345
Total
Exports.
British Guiana
Federated Malay States (1903)...
Daabos indicate that the amounts were negligible,
The figures for the Federated Malay States have not been added to the remaining total, because it would really be duplicating partly figures already given under Straits Settlements.
All the figures given are not strictly comparable, because in some cases figures relate to "Countries to which Exported" and in other cases to "Countries of Destination."
The reason for the curious Somaliland figures is that practically all exports from Somali- and go to Aden in the first place.
The 1901 Nigeria figures relate to Southern Nigeria. All the Nigerian figures exclude bullion and specie. In the case of Nyasaland, the earliest year for which figures are available is 1902, and in the case of Uganda 1907.
EAST AFRICA.
No. 2.
MEMORANDUM BY THE SECRETARY OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE PROPOSED UASIN GISHU RAILWAY FROM NAKURU TO MUMIAS IN THE EAST AFRICA PROTECTORATE.
1. CHARACTER AND OBJECTS OF THE LINE.
The present Uganda Railway, 584 miles long, arose out of Article I of the Brussels Con- ference of 1890, being intended as a means of counteracting the slave trade. Construction was commenced in 1896, with Indian coolie labour, under the direction of a Committee in England, which, when it dissolved in 1904, had spent out of Parliamentary grants £5,317,000 (£9,105 a mile). The capital expenditure had increased by 1910 to £5,637,333 (£9,663 a mile). The line 18 of 1 metre gauge (39:37 in.), rails 50 lbs. a yard (flat footed) with steel sleepers 75 lb. each, 2,112 to the mile, and a maximum gradient of two per cent. It runs from the sea at Mombasa and its port Kilindini to Kisumu or Port Florence on Lake Victoria, whence there is communica tion by steamer across the lake to Uganda.
2. The route of the proposed line, 205 miles long, leaves Nakuru (ht mile 448 on the Uganda Railway, height 6,070 ft.) in a north-westerly direction and at about mile 40 (say 6,800 ft.) reaches the large Eldama Forest. A steep climb then begins and the route reaches its highest level (8,520 ft.) at mile 764. Eldoret, the capital of the Uasin Gishu plateau, which is a large centre of European settlement, is at mile 1224 (6,860 ft.) From here the line bears westward and south-westward, gradually falling to the terminus at Mumias (mile 205, 4,270 ft.) in the progressive North Kavirondo district. The area of European settlement ends and that of native cultivation begins at or beyond mile 135.
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3. The line will, of course, be like the Uganda Railway, of 1 metre gauge.
4. The route was surveyed in 1914-15 under the direction of Mr. Church, Chief Engineer of the Uganda Railway, and a paper location has been laid down on a contoured plan prepared from a carefully staked out traverse. The projected line runs within a few hundred feet from the traverse and, except between miles 41 and 80, where heavy work is necessary, will require little fitting and can be quickly staked out. The maximum gradient taken (with compensation for curvature) was 1.50 per cent. in some parts and 100 per cent. in others. The time required for construction is estimated at 3 years, with a constant supply of at least 12,000 labourers recruited from the Kavirondo district (where it is plentiful), artisans from India, and higher staff from home.
5. The whole plateau north of Eldoret is already settled, with a good deal of the Trans Nzoia district, and some hundreds of thousands of acres of the latter have now been allotted under the Government soldier settlement scheme. The Nzoia River at its nearest point to Eldoret lies about 25 miles to the N.W. of that town, and its height is there about 5,800 ft. Thence the country rises very gradually to the foot hills of Mt. Elgon. Geographically, this Trans-Nzoia district is part of the Uasin Gishu plateau. Settlement of the plateau has been in progress for 10 or 11 years, but has been hampered by lack of communication.
6. The new railway will, if constructed, become in due course part of the main line to Uganda proper.
II. ESTIMATES OF COST.
7.
-;
On the results of the survey of 1914-15 the Uganda Railway,authorities estimated the cost of the line at prewar rates at £1,137,789 (= £5,550 a mile) on the following basis:-
Line to be equipped with sufficient plant to deal with initial traffic, but to be worked by
rolling stock from the Uganda Railway.
Line to be laid with 50 lb. rails taken from the Uganda Railway main line, the lower part
of which it has been proposed to relay with heavier 80 lb. rails to cope with the increased traffic that might be expected to accrue from further railway extensions in the Protectorate.
By adopting certain diversions with a higher maximum gradient of 2 per cent., and by postponing ballasting pending increase of traffic, this estimate was reduced to £1,012,016 (= £4,937 a mile).
8. The estimated cost must now be amended in the following respects:-
(i) The Uganda Railway rolling stock, as now being increased, at an estimated cost of £500,000, will not be sufficient to meet the additional requirements of the new line, as part of the new rolling stock is required for the special Magadi soda traffic. (ii) Owing to the increased cost of the other works to be met out of the authorised £3,000,000 Treasury loan, the Governor does not now propose to proceed with the scheme for relaying the Uganda Railway with heavier rails.
(iii) Allowance must be made for the higher cost of materials and staff from England. (iv) Allowance must be made for the higher sterling cost of local and Indian labour and local purchases due to the rapid rise on the exchange value of the Indian rupee (which has hitherto been the standard coin in the E.A.P.) during the last four months from 1s. 4d. or 1s. 6d. to 2s. 4}d.
9. Mesars. Pauling, who have offered to build the line for a commission of 8 per cent. on
cost, estimate the cost (25th November, 1919) at about £3,750,000, without rolling stock. Adding
an amount for rolling stock, this would be increased to about £4,000,000.
10. The Uganda Railway management have made an estimate of £2,440,000 at post-war prices on the previous basis, i.e., without rails or rolling-stock, and allowing for exchange at rupees 10 to the £.
In the
11. Materials from England may be rated roughly at 23 times the pre-war cost. case of the projected extension of the Shire Highlands Railway in Nyasaland, from the River Luchenza to Lake Nyasa, the Consulting Engineers in England, who estimated the cost on a pre-war basis at £714,328, have recently revised the estimate to £1,395,063, an increase of about 95 per cent.
III. FINANCIAL PROSPECTS OF THE LINE.
12. Only general information can be given, since no estimates have been received as to the etraffic and revenue which may be expected from the proposed line, nor as to the cost of maintenance. The Colonial Office have recently telegraphed instructions that such estimates should be prepared.
13. About April, 1919, the District Commissioner at Eldoret prepared certain statistica relating to the Uasin Gishu plateau and Trans-Nzoia, a copy of which is appended (Appendix I). They are not very definite, but it is clear that development in the Uasin Gishu is going ahead, and that the development of Trans-Nzoia depends on a railway to the Uasin Gishu.
14. The Acting Governor, Sir C, Bowring, visited the plateau in March, 1919, and refers to the prospects of the line in a despatch dated May 13th." He says (paragraph 9) :-
"Considerable areas on the plateau have already been put under sisal and coffee, "and will be in full bearing before the line can be completed. Very large production of "flax may be expected, and this being an annual crop will be ready for export a very "short time after being planted, and there will also very likely be a considerable "accumulation of produce waiting the completion of the line before it can be moved."
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