THE EARL OF CAMPERDOWNMy Lords, I beg to ask whether the Report of the Transvaal Concessions Commission will be presented to Parliament; and, if not, to move for the production of that part of the Report which refers to the Transvaal railways. It will be in your Lordships' recollection that some months ago His Majesty's Government appointed a Commission to inquire into concessions in the Transvaal. That Commission has, I believe, concluded its labours, and either has reported or is on the point of reporting; and in the present condition of affairs in South Africa it is very important that Parliament should be possessed as soon as possible of the conclusions of this Commission. There are two classes of concessions in the Transvaal, the ordinary concessions, such as the dynamite 9 monopoly, and, secondly, the railways. The question of the railways is of special interest to this country at the present moment. A year ago I called your Lordships' attention to this subject, and I obtained certain Returns which showed the nature of the property of these railways. It was very clear, even at that time, that on the solution of the question of the railways would depend the solution of the most important points in the South African difficulty. That is much more evident now. In the early future we shall have to inquire very closely into the transactions of the Transvaal Railway Companies, and certain very important questions will have to be discussed, to which I have no doubt attention will be called in this House.
During the war we have had to contend with no less than three belligerents—the two Republics and also the Netherlands Railway Company. When I call the Netherlands Railway Company a belligerent I do so advisedly, for the injury which has been done by that railway, when it comes to be measured, will be found to be very great indeed. When I make such a bold statement as to call that railway a belligerent, I do so on unimpeachable authority that of the General Manager. All the letter books of the Netherlands Railway were supposed to have been destroyed, but, fortunately, the General Manager had written letters to his Board and to private persons, which came into the possession of the Commission. Writing on 28th April, 1900, to two of his co-directors in Holland, the General Manager said—
Dear Sirs,—Your remarks with regard to the strict neutrality of the Netherlands South Africa Railway are not refreshing to me, especially as they come now that the chances have turned against the Boers. If it should come to the worst, and the English become masters here, I am afraid that we have hopelessly compromised ourselves, in deed, word, and writing. We have made cannon and ammunition; we have sold material to the Republic; we have blown up bridges on English territory, and have not discharged our staff on commando. We have assisted the Orange Free State with advice, and, indeed, with persons and material. There are in existence letters, telegrams, and living witnesses that we have strongly supported the Government in its defence. I have everything covered as much as possible by orders, but I have never yet attempted the appearance that we object to carrying out all of them. On the contrary, there are proofs that we have been only too willing to do everything that is in the interest of the Republic. How could it be 10 otherwise? We have always sounded it—how we serve the interests of the State, and how the Government could always reckon on us in difficult circumstances. Yes; how we always were plus royal que le roi. Everybody knows that, and I can well understand that our Holland gang is not beloved in London.It may be argued that they were asked under coercion and could not help themselves, as, under Article 22 of the Concession, the Government of the Transvaal had the power to make use of all the railways. But, later on in this letter, the General Manager says—We have, it is true, done things that we were not obliged to do according to the letter of the Concession. For instance, I might have said, 'Our workshops cannot make or repair cannon, we cannot shoe horses, make any tents, any ammunition, etc., we have no one who can work with dynamite.' We were not obliged to lend men to the Orange Free State. I could have said, 'We are not going to pay our men on commando.' We were not obliged to exploit railways outside the State, and our neutrality prohibits us from entering into agreements to that effect. I could have said, 'I have no material for this or that commando; our oil is finished, and now we cannot run,' etc. I would like to know how soon I would then have gone the way of the manager of the Pretoria-Pietersburg line, who was immediately put over the border when be tried to maintain his neutrality. I would also, then, have liked to hear your judgment—you who were proud of it when you heard of the Z.A.S.M. (Netherlands Railway) deed of heroism in the destruction of bridges, etc.—you who wished for further data in order to make mention in your yearly report of the active part we took in the defence of the country. The adversities of the Republics must have sorely touched you in order to make you all of a sudden so anxiously neutral.Your Lordships will see that the General Manager clearly implicates himself. He not only implicates himself, but his board also. In a private letter, dated 13th February, he said—Confirming my telegram of even date, I must inform you that it is my intention to assist the Government of the Orange Free State as much as possible by exploiting the railways in Cape Colony, and that we must, therefore, provide Van Eelde, whom they have charged with it, with a good set of men.Your Lordships must remember that this is a private railway in the Transvaal Republic, which turns itself into an active belligerent and takes part in the fighting in the Orange Free State. Writing on 28th February—the day of the relief of Ladysmith—the General Manager said—We have withdrawn our railway servants at Modder Spruit, and taken the rolling-stock 11 back to Glencoe. All cannon also brought over. All bridges and culverts between Modder Spruit and Elandslaagte have been destroyed. Westenberg (one of the chief engineers), with his destruction staff, forms the rear guard.That was, the rear guard of the Boor Army. All this has appeared in evidence, and it is clear that the board are implicated. They had attacked us in Natal, had blown up bridges in Natal, had fought against us in the Transvaal, had made cartridges and cannon for use against us, and had actively assisted the Boers in every way; and when finally our troops reached Standerton the Railway Company actively opposed us by destroying engines. Ultimately nearly the whole of the railway staff were driven from the Transvaal and exported from Delagoa Bay as undesirables. Is there such another instance in history where a private company has attacked a foreign Power with which it had nothing to do, not limiting itself to defending the country in which its property lay, but invading outside territory and doing all the damage possible? What we desire to know is the extent of the damage done by the company and the amount of the indemnity they will be required to pay. For that information it is essential to have the Report of the Commission, and I hope that it will be laid before Parliament with as little delay as possible. It may be said that there are innocent shareholders of the company in various parts of the world. The point we urge is that the shareholders have nothing whatever to do with the matter. The question is the responsibility and liability of the Board of Directors. Your Lordships will no doubt be troubled with the matter again, but for the present I will content myself by asking the question standing in my name.
THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (The Earl of ONSLOW)The noble Lord began his remarks by saying that the Report of the Commission either had been, or was about to be, presented. The latter is the correct recital of the facts. The Report has not yet been seen, even in draft, by the Secretary of State or myself, but within the last few moments I have obtained information from the Chairman of the Commission that the Report is in 12 the printers' hands and likely to be ready for the Secretary of State in the course of a week or so. The noble Earl will agree with me that, as the Report has not yet been seen by the Secretary of State, it is impossible to say whether it can be presented to Parliament or not, but the remarks of the noble Earl, on which I do not propose to follow him, will, of course, engage the attention of the Secretary of State.
THE EARL OF CAMPERDOWNI would suggest, as the Report will probably be of considerable length, that, if it should be decided to lay it before Parliament, it may be well to divide it into two parts, separating the Report upon the railway from other matters.