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Leader (1850-1860), 21st August 1858, Edition 2 of 2, Page 24, CAPE OF GOOD HOPE RAILWAY. There is no q...

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      Oriental Inland Steam Company. The Punja...

      colonies , not only in Kurrachee , but in Hyderabad and in the hill regions from Murree round . Kote Kangra and Lahoal will get their contingent from this new importation . As Kurrachee is accessible , the route to it gets to be known , and the price of a fore-cabin passage gets more settled , many of the sfaoptnates of the workmen , and relatives who cannot get engagements from tbe company ,-will come out to fill private engagements , or to set up in their respective trades . Wherever a body of workmen go in this way abroad , there is no difficulty in getting recruits and volunteers from the same districts , and thns the company will not have the same difficulty in finding skilled labour in future .

      For the establishment at Kurrachee , the supreme Government and the Bombay Government have afforded every encouragement by allotments of land for the formation of-workshops , storehouses , & c ., and the like at the out-stations for fuel depots , storehouses , and offices . Every assistance , indeed , has been given by the authorities for the promotion of tbe purposes of the company , and the new -undertaking starts under the best auspices . The Government , which so long ; held back against the encouragement of the plan , has now become desirous of doubling tbe number of trains , as we stated , but the directors have done well in taking time before acceding to such a proposition , and in requiring better terms . As observed by the directors , every undertaking needs time for organisation and development , and the management being new , and the fleet of vessels suddenly created , any error or imperfection might be of serious consequence when spread over a larger fleet .

      In order that the arrangements may work thoroughly , the chairman and the managing director will start directly for India . The managing director has spent years in India acquiring the requisite local knowledge , and has bestowed especial attention on steam navigation . He had now the opportunity for Witnessing the realisation of his plans , and it is to be hoped that he may be able toextendtheoperationsof the company so as to enable it to carry Out the whole scheme laid down . However desirable it may "be to increase steam navigation on the Indus , it is no less so to provide means of transit on the numerous rivers of the south , where , if this system can be established , it will create a new class of resources , making the rich collectorates wealthier , and introducing cultivation where now crops cannot be carried to market . .

      848 The Leader. [No, 439, August 21.1w

      848 THE LEADER . [ No , 439 , August 21 . 1 W

      Notes On Indian- Enterprise. A Report Ha...

      NOTES ON INDIAN- ENTERPRISE . A report has been in circulation that the East India Company contemplated resuming trading operations . For this there appears no adequate ground , for though the Company retains its trading powers under its charter , yet unfortunately it has no power to appropriate its existing capital , nor power to raise further capital . Its present capital has been converted virtually into limited annuities , and although some uncertainty prevails until the opinion of counsel has been taken , there can be little real doubt that the Great East India Company has sunk to the condition of nominal existence in which the South Sea Company dragged out a protracted existence . The rumours are really based on the projects of a large association of leading Indian officials , and that for the promotion of an undertaking of great importance . The Bengal Government is very anxious for the navigation of Gogra , on which boats are to be placed . It is expected that some measures will be taken to enable these operations to be extended , for the Gogra has a better depth of water and better channels than the Upper Ganges , and is the outlet for an immense traffic , which would be afforded by the productions of Oude . The navigation of the Gogra is in fact one of the best measures for the pacification of Oude .

      In consequence of the progress made in the last session of parliament with , the measure for English settlement , there has been formed an . association for the Promotion of English Settlement in India , of which Mr . Hyde Clarke , the originator of the measure , is the honorary secretary . During the recess further evidence will be obtained from the hill settlements in India , petitions will be got from various parts of that country , and at home lectures on the subject will be given , and a canvass will he carried out of the . various chambers of commerce and other parties interested . Mr . John Bourne , C . E ., the founder and managing director of the Indian Inland Steam Company , is about to proceed to India to complete the organisation of his steam trains .

      In consequence of the observations of Major-General Tremenheere before the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Committee of the House of Commons , attention has been called to the Orphan Schools of Bengal . The Upper Orphan School was founded in 1782 , and is under the general management of tho Bengal Military Orphan Society , and yet at the present day the number of young ladies in the school at Kidderpore ia only 43 , and the number of boys does not exceed 111 In fact , it is not thought worth while to maintain a boys' school , and they are pat to St . Paul ' s School , which is a church grammar school , founded in 1845 . The Lower Orphan dates from the samo time , and is at Alii pore . This ia for the children of non-commissioned officers and soldiers .

      The number of girls is 50 , aud the school is at Allipo e , but the number of boys is only 5 , and they are seut to the Free School . If these institutions were transferred to Darjeeling , in conformity with General Tremenheere ' s proposals , the children would obtain healthy constitutions in the hills , and would get better education . We might then expect to obtain efficient boys ' schools attached to the institutions ; but , at any rate , they might be sent to the schools at Darjeeling till separate schools were constituted . What the Times is now agitating

      with regard to the public schools of London , applies more forcibly to the metropolis of India , for the benefit arising from the transference of Christ ' s Hospital , St . Paul ' s School , or the Charterhouse to a railway station twenty miles off , is as nothing compared with the transference from Kidderpore and Allipore to the healthy European climate of Darjeeling or Hope Town , in the Himalayas , only 343 miles from Calcutta . It- is desirable the members of the fund in England and India should support General Tremenheere's views .

      Lord Dalhousie has left his name in India to be remembered by the formation of two towns , one a sanatorium for the Punjab in a very advantageous situation , the other far away to the east , being the new seaport of Bassein , in Pegu . It has now a custom-house with collector , two clerks ,, appraiser , three preventive officers , two tide-waiters , two tindais , and sixteen lascars . There is a marine department with a master attendant , cleric , tindal , and ten lascars . The mercantile interest is represented by several firms , chiefly branches of Rangoon houses , as usual where English enterprise spreads , there is a Parsee house or a German house . Lord Dalhousie ' s name has likewise been given to an island in the Soonderbunds at the eastern entrance of the Mutlah river . There is here a house of refuge for ship wrecked mariners thrown ashore on the surface of the Soonderbunds .

      "We may remark with legard to this port that notwithstanding all that has been said against the Mutlah , the Government has not abandoned it . By notification of the 6 th . February , 1857 , buoyage and light dues were charged on vessels frequenting the Mutlah . An establishment has been formed at the Mutlah , which consists of an excutive officer , Mr . II . Leonard , C . E ., in charge of the port ,-with the power of magistrate , & c ., a superintendent of works , a sub-engineer , and a native

      assistant in the engineering department . There is a head writer , accountant , and assistant , a body of police consisting of an inspector and seventeen constables , a customs department , and three pilots . Several Calcutta mercantile establishments have set up stores at the Mutlah ; it is therefore likely to get on . But the most effective measure / will be the proposed branch of the Eastern Bengal Railway . With this all objections about the unhealthiness of the Mutlah will be overcome .

      At Simla , at the last advices , there were no less than eight female firms or traders—three milliners , two schools , one teacher of music , one midwife , and one actress . This is exclusive of those employed in public schools and as teachers . An opening has at length been found for English female settlers in the hill colonies . A Calcutta Auction Mart , or Calcutta Auction Company , limited , has been formed this year under the Act 19 , of 1857 , with limited liability . The directors are English and native ? . The premises taken are those formerly occupied by Messrs . Tullsh and Co . in Tanksquare , and which are very large . Besides the usual busineasjof an auction mart , strangely enough the company undertakes the supply of regimental messes , and the public with wines and oilman ' s stores supplied by their agent in London .

      Photography has not made that progress in India that might have been expected , and not at all correspondent to that of America , although a Calcutta Photographic Society has been formed . It may be that the prices of photograpic apparatus and chemicals are high in proportion to the resources of the country , but it has been partly owing to the want of a ready supply of these articles . This , however , is now likely to bo supplied , for besides the importations of general merchants , a special photographic establishment has been formed in Calcutta , like those in the large cities of Europe . The price of apparatus is still high , but every article can be obtained . An enterprising firm at Calcutta , Messrs . Hay and Co ., have started travelling libraries . The " travelling library" consists of a box , complete with lock and key , sixteen inches high , eleven incbes broad , and ten and a half inches deep , which opens out as a bookcase with a centre and two wings , containing forty-four volumes of standard works of fiction , or , more properly speaking , forty-four works , formerly three-volume novels , but now printed In single volumes . This HbraTy , or box , can bo conveyed by dawk , garry , camel , or steamer , and , -with its contents , costs only 51 . At home , luckily , we are not obliged to carry about libraries with us on camels ' backs , but in India the appliances of civilisation must bo made to march with the civilised . Tho travelling library is something like the march of intellect . Notwithstanding tho mutiny in Bengal within the last year , the list of known Mofussil residents has largely increased . Smith , including tho well-known John Smith , makes a respectable figure the list . Smith can now claim a column and a half for his inventory , besides the share he has In tho Calcutta residents . John

      Smith promises to be a name known to India lu ^ 7 the contingents already referred to , this ereat oW . Y strong claims on the army , and by the hem of h ^ . * presidencies the great English flat , ffimust ?* reckon its hundreds , and ia a few yearn , with" 31 * gress of settlement , will number Us thousands and" IT haps the last native Louis Philippe may take refuiT that segis of disindividualit y , John Smith Who ? say the contrary ? "ho dares

      Cape Of Good Hope Railway. There Is No Q...

      CAPE OF GOOD HOPE RAILWAY . There is no question that capitalists are now * look ing oat ia earnest for the best channels in wbicli to invest their money . They will no lowrer be content with the 3 i afforded by consols , th ! 2 percent offered by joint-stock banks , or the unsettled divil deiids of our leading railways . Guaranteed lines and preference shares are steadily coming into favour , and finding rising markets . Our Indian guaranteed railways very properly rank amon » first , class securities , and though they were neglected at a time when money was worth 10 per cent ., now t W

      the rate has fallen to 3 per cent , they have been eagerly bought up at steadily advancing premiums . Colonial lines conceded , and in course of construct tion , have next attracted attention , and many substantial undertakings which could hardly have found notice a few months ago , are now regarded with much favour , and placed in the first rank of sound and profitable investments . Among these colonial undertakings , that of the Cape of Good Hope Railway has been found by us on investigation very well worthy of the notice of those who desire to

      embark money , not in speculation , but in permauent investments . The Cape appears to be virgin ground , as far as railways are concerned , and , of course , the first ^ constructors are likely to secure the best localities and the greatest number of privileges . As we have declared our belief that , independently of the value to the colony in a social and commercial point of view , the Cape Railway offers advantages to capitalists not surpassed by any other guaranteed railway , we will show , tJie process by which we arrived at that opinion . Our investigations were directed towards the iuception and ultimate concession of the line . We find that about ten years ago the recently conceded line was started by independent parties , and that Messrs . Fox and Henderson tendered for the

      construction on condition of receiving payment in 6 per cent . Colonial Debentures . The proposal , however , remained in abeyance until 1852 , when the notion of a railway was revived in a form that did not find favour with the colonists , who apparently by this time alive to the immense advantages of railway coninuinication , gave their adhesion to the old line , -winch comprehended a railway from Cape Town to Wellington , with a branch to the Government station at Simon ' s Bay . The Cape Town , Railway and Dock Company , which adopted the recommendations of the local authorities , at first contemplated the construction of docks

      in Table Bay , but the local Government , having now taken that affair into their own hands , the company confines itself to the railwaylinc as originally planned . It will not be necessary to enter into a history of the impediments to the progress of the enterprise arising from disturbed and adverse politics at home and in the colony ; it -will be sufficient to say that in 1854 , the House of Commons ia the new local Parliament was so impressed with the value of the undertaking that they agreed in recommending a minimum guarantee of 6 per cent , on the requisite capital , after the fashion of India , Canada , and other

      important dependencies . Further delays took place ; but , in 1857 , the Legislature passed an act giving a colonial guarantee of 0 per cent , on a sum not exceeding 500 , 000 / . for constructing a railway from Cape Town to Wellington . A good deal of negotiation and competition took place , which resulted in the Capo Town Railway and Dock Company securing the concession last week . The new conditions are 6 per cent , for 50 years from the opening of the line , with power to pay interest at the same rate durincr construction , by including the amount

      in the estimate . Government also gives the laud free , and the company arc privileged to import all materials without duty , and to take stono and other materials free of cost from the Government lunds . This appears to us pretty well for the promoters of the company , but then the question presents itself , what are the securities that tho local Government will bo enabled to adhere to the stipulation—tho minimum guarantee of 0 per cent , to tho shareholders P Wo must look to the resources ana the revenues of tho colony for a reply . We find

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 21, 1858, page 24, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21081858/page/24/