The Annual Report of the British South Africa Company, issued
on Thursday, shows that the railway-lines are gradually but surely creeping up the heart of Africa. Since the last Report, the line has been opened from Vryburg to Mafeking (one hundred miles), and it is now arranged that an exten- sion of another one hundred miles shall be at once made to Gaberones, and that afterwards the line shall be taken to Palapye, two hundred miles further. Meantime, the exten- sion towards Buluwayo is being talked of, though that must be an aff tir of time. We are by no means enamoured of all the methods of the South Africa Company, but we have nothing but praise and encouragement for the policy of pressing on the railways. It was the policy of making railways at all costs which made Western America what it is. The directors farther report that one hundred and eighteen miles of the Beira Railway is already open for traffic. It is to be noted that in the Company's accounts, the cost of the Matabele War is put down at £113,488. If this is really all that was spent, the directors have a right to speak of "an economy of expenditure unparalleled in the history of native wars."
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