The age-herald., 1900-05-06
THE IBERIA RAIL WAY
Englands Back Door Route to Rhodesia Against Which Transvaal Protested

From the London Times.
 The Beira railway which is now attract ing public attention, was the outcome of an agreement made between Great Britain and Portugal on June Il, 1891, mainly for the purpose of fixing the respective from tiers, following on the taking over of Lo- benguaS territories by the British South Africa company, though the final arrange ments respecting these frontier questions were not made until later date. Under the agreement in question tn Portuguese government undertook, among other things, the construction of iiho of rail- way which would connect Fhodesia with the sea at Beira, and they further guar anteed not to impose any transit Gaty on goods higher than per cent.
 The original concession was granted the Mozambique company; but eventually it was transferred, through MT. H. T. Van Laun. to the Beira Railway company, which was registered in London fin July. 1892 with debenture capital only. The line from Beira to the Portuguese frontier was constructed in sections, and when, In July, 1S96 the Mashonaland Field Forcs sassed this way, they were able to use the sec tions lying between Fontesvilla. which is forty-fve miles up the river Pungwe to Chimoio, a distance of 150 miles from Beira The complete line up to New Um- tali, the frontier as then fixed upon was finished by July, 1898. The total length of the Bera line is 2O3 miles, a greater dis tance than was originally conteiaSated partly because the boundry between the British and the Portuguese spheres of in- fuence had, in the meantime, been moved seventeen miles westward, and parus' be- cause of the detours which had to be made owing to the hilly nature of the country.
 Thus between Fontesvilla and Chimoio the distance, as the crow flies, is seventy. five miles, but the line winds 12O while it rises steadily from Beira until at Umtali it reaches an elevation of 3,450 feet. Tn the circumstances it is not surprising that the average rate of speed for passenger trains is only twenty miles hour and for goods trains ten miles an hour. The complete journey from Beira to Umtali generally takes two days, a night being spent at a stopping place en route.
 At Umtali the line connects with that of the Mashonaland Railway company, which runs thence to Salisbury, the capital of Rhodesia, distance of about 17O miles, This Umtali- li-Salisbury line was constructed under contract with the British South Af- rica company, which guaranteed the pay ment of interest on the debentures. The raison d'etre of the whole line from Salis- bury to Beira Is, of course, the development of Rhodesia, which thus gets a S73-mile railway journey to the sea on the east coast as an alternative to the 1850 miles from Bulawayo to Cape Town on the south Eventually, the Cape Railway, which now has it's terminus at Bulawayo, will be ex- tended via Gwelo to meet the line at Salis- bury and Cape Town will then be in direct railway communication with Beira, a total length of 2,000 miles of continuous railway being available for this purpose.
 At the present moment, however, there is no railway between Salisbury and Bula- wayo distance of 2SO miles, and the or dinary traveller proceeding from the one place to the other does so either by coach. which accomplishes the journey in five days and costs f12 or by bullock wagon. which is both slower and cheaper. The Beira- Umtali line was originally construct ed on a two-foot gauge. the carriages over hanging the wheels to about the same ex- tent on each side. The Umtali-S Salisbury