to be made in dealing with the
coal traffic must not be taken as exhausting all possible reforms:
the particulars given as to this traffic only indicate and suggest
the wide area covered by this monopoly, which hitherto has made but
halting and feeble efforts to keep pace with the requirements of
the public. Dealing as it does with the imports of the whole
country, which now amount in value to L10,000,000, the figures we
have given must serve merely to illustrate its invertebrate methods
of handling traffic, as well as its grasping greed in enforcing the
rates fixed by the terms of its concession. Its forty miles of Rand
steam tram-line and thirty-five miles of railway from the Vaal
River, with some little assistance from the Delagoa line and
customs, brought in a revenue of about L1,250,000 in 1895. Now that
the Natal line is opened the receipts will probably amount to
nearly L3,000,000 per annum, all of which should swell the ordinary
revenue of the country instead of remaining in the hands of
foreigners as a reservoir of wealth for indigent Hollanders to
exploit. The total railway earnings at the Cape and Natal together
over all their lines amounted to L3,916,566 in 1895, and the
capital expenditure on railways by these colonies amounts to
L26,000,000. The greater portion of these receipts come from the
Rand trade, which is compelled to pay an additional L2,500,000
carrying charges to the Netherlands Company, which has L7,000,000
of capital. Thus, railway receipts in South Africa amount now to
L7,000,000 per annum, of which the Rand contributes at least
L5,000,000.

"The revenue of the company is now considerably over L3,000,000 per
annum. The management claim that their expenses amount to but forty
per cent. of revenue, and this is regarded by them as a matter for
general congratulation. The Uitlanders contend that the concern is
grossly mismanaged, and that the low cost of working is a fiction.
It only appears low by contrast with a revenue swollen by
preposterously heavy rates and protected by a monopoly. The tariff
could be reduced by one-half, that is to say, a remission of
taxation to the tune of one and a half million annually could be
effected without depriving the company of a legitimate and indeed
very handsome profit."

[Illust