The Making of an Imperial Slum: Nyasaland and Its Railways, 1895-1935

The Journal of African History

Volumn 16, Issue 1, 1975, Pages 89-112

  Vail, Leroy ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 84972095285     PISSN: 00218537     EISSN: 14695138     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700014122     Document Type: Article

References (114)

1. As, for example, Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (Dar es Salaam, 1972). E. A. Brett, Colonialism and Underdevelopment in East Africa: the Politics of Economic Change, 1919-1939 (London, 1973), has discussed the effects of railway financing in East Africa in a most stimulating fashion; see also A. M. O’ Connor, Railways and Development in Uganda (Nairobi, 1965).
2. See A. J. Wills, An Introduction to the History of Central Africa (London, 1964), 276;
3. Norman H. Pollock, Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia: corridor to the north (Pittsburgh, 1971), 512-15;
4. S. Herbert Frankel, Capital Investment in Africa: Its Course and Effects (London, 1938), 179.
5. Keith Hancock, Survey of British Commonwealth Affairs, II: Problems of Economic Policy, 1919-1939, part 2 (London, 1942), 120;
6. B. Pachai, Malawi: The History of the Nation (London, 1973), 151.
7. F.O. 2/690, Sharpe to Salisbury, 27 Dec. 1899.
8. The Central African Planter, 11 Nov. 1899. In 1903, however, recruitment for the Rand was permitted in response to an appeal by Milner. His request was granted after the failure of the local coffee plantations lessened the demand for labour. Because of the high mortality rate among the Africans recruited, however, the experiment was terminated in 1909.
9. The Central African Planter, 6 Jan. 1900.
10. Minute of the Church of Scotland Foreign Mission Committee, 20 Nov. 1900, enclosed in F.O. 2/691, McMurtrie to Balfour, 7 Dec. 1900.
11. F.O. 2/689, Sharpe to Salisbury, 27 Jan. 1897;
12. Memorandum of H. H. Johnston, 20 Nov. 1896;
13. Harry Johnston, ‘England’ s Work’, Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute, xxviii (1896-7), 55.
14. F.O. 2/689, Memorandum of Lord Stanmore, 18 Nov. 1898.
15. See F.O. 2/689, Moir (African Lakes Company) to Salisbury, 1 Dec. 1896, and also Memorandum of H. H. Johnston, 20 Nov. 1896. Johnston was harshly critical of the African Lakes Company’ s attitude towards the railway project, noting that ‘in the present state of the country the Lakes company reap very large profits from the very imperfection of the transport system that others deplore’. He viewed the Company’ s intervention as insincere and as designed to obscure the issue and postpone the construction of a railway that would compete with the Company’ s transport business.
16. F.O. 2/689, Memorandum of H. H. Johnston, 20 Nov. 1896;
17. Ommanney (Crown Agents) to Stanmore, 15 Dec. 1896;
18. Stanmore to Johnston, 20 Jan. 1897. It should be noted that with the sole exceptions of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, all railways in British colonial Africa were owned and operated by the government concerned (Frankel, Capital Investment in Africa, 377). That the Foreign Office, not the Colonial Office, formulated early railway policy for Nyasaland is important in understanding this anomaly.
19. F.O. 2/689, Memorandum of H. H. Johnston, 20 Nov. 1896;
20. Ommanney (Crown Agents) to Stanmore, 15 Dec. 1896;
21. Stanmore to Johnston, 20 Jan. 1897. It should be noted that with the sole exceptions of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, all railways in British colonial Africa were owned and operated by the government concerned (Frankel, Capital Investment in Africa, 377). That the Foreign Office, not the Colonial Office, formulated early railway policy for Nyasaland is important in understanding this anomaly.
22. F.O. 2/689, Memorandum of H. H. Johnston, 20 Nov. 1896;
23. Ommanney (Crown Agents) to Stanmore, 15 Dec. 1896;
24. Stanmore to Johnston, 20 Jan. 1897. It should be noted that with the sole exceptions of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, all railways in British colonial Africa were owned and operated by the government concerned (Frankel, Capital Investment in Africa, 377). That the Foreign Office, not the Colonial Office, formulated early railway policy for Nyasaland is important in understanding this anomaly.
25. The Central African Times, 10 Nov. 1900 and 23 Feb. 1901;
26. F.O. 2/691, Ommanney to Hill, 30 Aug. 1899;
27. F.O. 2/693, Blake (Crown Agents) to Lansdowne, 27 June 1902.
28. F.O. 2/693, Blake to Lansdowne, 30 Oct. 1902.
29. Malawi Railways Archives (Limbe, Malawi), Concession Decree of n Feb. 1891.
30. Malawi Railways Archives, Van Laun Contract, 12 Sept. 1891;
31. Emile d’ Erlanger, The Construction and Financing of the Rhodesian Transport System (n.p. n.d. [London, 1938]), 40.
32. Ronald Robinson and John Gallagher, with Alice Denny, Africa and the Victorians (London, 1963), 446-8. See also Herbert Feis, Europe: The World’ s Banker (New York, 1930). 251-2.
33. F.O. 63/1446, Minute of 10 Oct. 1902.
34. F.O. 63/1446, Elphinstone (Director, Mozambique Company) to Clark, 17 Oct. 1902.
35. F.O. 63/1446, Antrobus to Lansdowne, 20 Oct. 1902.
36. F.O. 63/1446, 18 Nov.
37. C.O. 525/5, Elphinstone to Clark, 4 May 1904, enclosed in Lansdowne to Lyttleton, 13 May 1904.
38. C.O. 525/s, Minute of 22 May 1904.
39. C.O. 525/10, Enclosure in de Bunsen to Lansdowne, 25 Aug. 1905.
40. C.O. 537/550, Harcourt to Gladstone, 15 May 1911, and Minute of 9 Oct. 1911. On two separate occasions the Colonial Office thought the rumours serious enough to warrant its threatening the Company’ s officials against any such move in very strong terms.
41. ‘Mr. Libert Oury’ s Life and Work’, East Africa and Rhodesia, 11 May 1939, 998.
42. Erlanger, Construction, 42-3. as time passed Oury acquired directorships in well over a dozen companies operating in south-east Africa.
43. C.O. 537/553. Minute of Sir J. Anderson, 14 Jan. 1913.
44. C.O. 537/553, Memorandum of H.L. 9 Jan. 1913. A modern Rhodesian author has written that early in the century Rhodesians were brought up to believe that ‘Portuguese East could be “taken by telephone” ‘. H. Maclear Bate, Report from the Rhodesias (London, 1953). 114.
45. C.O. 537/553 Harcourt to Gladstone, 10 Jan. 1913.
46. C.O. 525/40, Harcourt to the Secretary of the British Central Africa Company, 5 Dec. 1911.
47. C.O. 525/45, Maugham to Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 28 Nov. 1911.
48. C.O. 525/45, Minute of Barclay to Fiddes, 10 Jan. 1912.
49. Erlanger, Construction, 44.
50. C.O. 525/52, Eyre-Crowe to Harcourt, 18 Mar. 1913.
51. C.O. 525/52, Harcourt to Grey, 19 Mar. 1913.
52. C.O. 525/52, Grey to Hardinge, 21 Mar. 1913.
53. C.O. 525/52, Hardinge to Grey, 13 May 1913.
54. C.O. 525/64, Minute of J. Read, 28 Apr. 1915.
55. Malawi National Archives (MNA), GOA 2/4/29, Oury to Smith, 18 Jan. 1917.
56. C.O. 525/88, Bottomley (C.O.) to Buckley (Treasury), 19 Apr. 1919. The leading proponents of this new forward attitude were Smuts, Milner and Leopold Amery, all of whom took an active part in formulating imperial policies towards Portuguese East Africa. Smuts saw the move as one that would ensure that German commercial activity would not revive in the area and as highly advantageous to South Africa. Milner and Amery agreed with Smuts and pressed for British governmental intervention to extend British interests in the area. C.O. 525/77, Memorandum of J. C. Smuts, 15 Jan. 1918;
57. C.O. 525/81, Philips to Read, 11 Sept. 1918;
58. C.O. 525/88, Milner to Balfour, 18 July 1918;
59. Minute of L. S. Amery, 19 Apr. 1919.
60. C.O. 525/88, Milner to Balfour, 18 July 1918.
61. C.O. 525/64, Officer Administering the District of Quelimane to British Consul at Quelimane, 9 July 1914, enclosed in MacDonell to Grey, 18 Dec. 1914.
62. Malawi Railways Archives, undated letter of Oury to the Mozambique Company.
63. C.O. 537/844, Fiddes to Gilmour, 2 May 1919.
64. C.O. 537/844, Memorandum of Libert Oury, enclosed in Gilmour to Fiddes, 19 Apr. 1919.
65. C.O. 525/85, Read (C.O.) to Barstow (Treasury), 18 Aug. 1919.
66. C.O. 537/844, Confidential Memorandum of Libert Oury, enclosed in Gilmour to Milner, 19 April 1919;
67. See also MNA. GOA 2/4/29, Gilmour to Smith, 15 July 1919.
68. C.O. 525/85, 18 Aug.
69. The Colonial Office explained the position thus: ‘In view of the suspicions and susceptibilities of the Portuguese Government, it was recognized that any proposal for a direct guarantee by the Imperial Government would wreck the whole project, and it was in these circumstances decided, without preliminary consultation with the Government of Nyasaland, to arrange for a guarantee in the name of that Government as being likely to be less distasteful to the Government of Portugal.’ C.O. 525/85, Read to Barstow, 18 Aug. 1919.
70. MNA. S2/44/19, Milner to Smith, 17 July 1919.
71. Treasury (T) 161/64/S.4625/1, Read to Treasury, 13 Aug. 1921.
72. T 161/64/S.4625/1, Barstow to Read, 9 Sept. 1921.
73. T 161/64/S.4625/1, Read to Barstow, 8 Oct. 1921.
74. The Nyasaland Times, 29 Apr. 1920.
75. MNA. S1/1644/23, Treasury to Colonial Office, 5 Mar. 1923, enclosed in C.O. to Governor, 19 Apr. 1923.
76. MNA. GOA 2/4/29, Fiddes to Smith, 28 Dec. 1915. In 1915 Oury estimated the cost of a bridge over the Zambezi at 150,000. When it was finally completed, its cost exceeded 3,000,000.
77. d’ Erlanger, Construction, 46-8.
78. C.O. 525/100, Oury to Churchill, 27 Apr. 1921.
79. Cmd. 2016. Report of the Committee on Private Enterprise in British Tropical Africa (London, 1923) (Ronaldshay Committee), and Cmd. 2387. Report of the East African Commission (London, 1924) (Ormsby-Gore Report).
80. C.O. 525/110, Barstow to Read, 27 May 1924.
81. C.O. 525/110, Petition of the Nyasaland Planters, May 1924. See also East Africa, 19 Mar. 1925.
82. C.O. 525/113, Minute of F. Green, 29 May 1925.
83. Cmd. 2701. Report of the East African Guaranteed Loan Committee (London, 1926), 107.
84. C.O. 525/115, Memorandum of Gilmour to the Colonial Office, 26 July 1926.
85. General Hammond had had considerable experience in similar work in Nigeria, East Africa and Rhodesia and was considered the best man available for such a task.
86. C.O. 525/115, Minute of 27 July 1926.
87. C.O. 525/115, Memorandum of Gilmour to Amery, 26 Mar. 1926.
88. The Report on the Nyasaland Railways and the Proposed Zambezi Bridge [Hammond Report] Col. Office No. 27 (London, 1929), 7.
89. This assumed that the imperial authorities would allow cheap exports, such as maize, to be produced in Nyasaland. In fact, when the opportunity arose, Whitehall refused to countenance such exports.
90. A critical point left untouched, because it was explicitly excluded from the Commission’ s terms of reference, was the potential of the Moatize coal-fields, which were generally accepted as the only thing that could make the bridge a financially feasible proposition. Although nothing was published about these, General Hammond wrote a ‘secret’ report to Amery to make the point that the Moatize coal-fields were highly speculative, that Natal coal would almost surely undercut Moatize coal, and that the British South Africa Company, with its very large influence in the Port of Beira, would surely use its influence there to block the improvements that would help Nyasaland at the expense of the coal industry at Wankie. By this time, Rhodesian Railways, controlled by the British South Africa Company, was a dominant influence in the Beira Works Company, which now held the port development concessions in Beira. C.O. 525/117, Hammond to Amery, 17 June 1927;
91. C.O. 525/122, Paterson (Vice Consul at Beira) to Consul, Loureno Marques, 22 Nov. 1927;
92. d’ Erlanger, Construction, 49.
93. C.O. 525/122, Bowring to Amery, 11 Apr. 1928.
94. C.O. 525/122, Schuster to Amery, 21 June 1928.
95. C.O. 525/122, Minute of 26 June 1928.
96. T 161/742/S.28440/4, Amery to Churchill, 18 July 1928.
97. T 161/291/S.33978, Memorandum of Oct. 1928.
98. T 161/291/S.33978, Amery to Churchill, 26 Nov. 1928.
99. T 161/291/S.33978, Memorandum of Hopkins to Churchill, 21 Jan. 1929.
100. See speech of J. H. Thomas introducing the bill, Hansard, fifth series, ccxxix, col. 12ss, 12 July 1929.
101. C.O. 525/131, Memorandum of Sir Horace Wilson, 19 Mar. 1929.
102. C.O. 525/135, Bottomley to Treasury, 11 Apr. 1930.
103. C.O. 525/139, Passfield to Thomas, 6 July 1931;
104. C.O. 525/143, Hamilton to Officer Administering the Government (Hall), 28 July 1932.
105. Speech of Sir Oswald Mosley, Hansard, fifth series, ccxxx, col. 694, 18 July 1929.
106. C.O. 525/147, Minute of Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister, 2 Mar. 1933.
107. C.O. 525/162, Kittermaster to Ormsby-Gore, 8 Oct. 1936. In 1936 Nyasaland tobacco cost o97d per pound to transport from Limbe to Beira by rail, while Rhodesian tobacco cost only o17d per pound over the same distance to Beira.
108. C.O. 525/152, Calder (C.O.) to Grieve (Treasury), 1 Oct. 1935.
109. T 161/S.28440/08, Memorandum of Grieve, 1935.
110. C.O. 525/155, Calder to the Treasury, 10 Apr. 1935.
111. C.O. 525/154, Minute of Greenhill, 25 July 1934.
112. Speech by Mr Hall, Chief Secretary to the Nyasaland Protectorate, reported in East Africa, 25 Jan. 1934.
113. C.O. 525/155, Hall to Cunliffe-Lister, 31 Aug. 1934. See also MNA. S2/4 II/31, Minute of 20 Aug. 1934.
114. C.O. 525/158, Kittermaster to Cunliffe-Lister, 1 Feb. 1935. See also The Report of the Committee Appointed by His Excellency the Governor to Enquire into Emigrant Labour, 1935 (Zomba, 1936) [Lacey Report].