untry, or to better the conditions of the workers in it, with the
few--very few--exceptions of those proposed by the Chamber of Mines.
The country has, in fact, run the Government, and the Government has
been unable to ruin it.

Shortly after the discovery of the Rand conglomerates, it became
clear that a railway would have to be built between the coalfields
and the mines--some forty miles. But it was a fixed principle of the
Boers that no railways (with the exception of the Delagoa Bay line,
which, as the means of diverting trade from British channels, was
regarded as a necessary evil) should be built, since they could
compete successfully with the ox-waggon, and thus deprive the 'poor
burgher' of his legitimate trade spoil; and great difficulty was
experienced in getting the consent of the Raad. As a matter of fact,
the permission to build it was only obtained by subterfuge; for it
was explained to the worthy law-makers that it was not a railway at
all--only a _steam tram_. And the Rand Steam Tram it is called to
this day.

The Delagoa Railway--the darling scheme of Presidents Burgers and
Kruger in turn--was taken seriously in hand as soon as it was
possible to raise money on almost any terms. The concession for all
railways in the State was granted on April 16, 1884, to a group of
Hollander and German capitalists, and confirmed by the Volksraad on
August 23 following. The President's excuse for granting and
preserving this iniquitous bond on the prosperity of the State is,
that when the country was poor and its credit bad, friends in Holland
came forward and generously helped it, and this must not be forgotten
to them. As a matter of fact, friends accepted the concession when
the State was poor and its credit bad, but did nothing until the
State's credit improved to such an extent as to be mortgageable.
_Then_ the friends granted certain favourable terms under their
concession to other friends, who built the first section of the line
at preposterous rates, and repaid themselves out of moneys raised on
the State's credit.

A well-known South African politician, distinguished alike for his
ability and integrity, who visited the Transvaal during the progress
of the reformers' trial, and was anxious in the interests of all
South Africa to find a solution of the differences, put the position
thus to some of the leading men of the Rand: 'You can see for
yourselves that this is no time to ask for the franchise; for the