This collection presents rare documents relating to the development of various forms of communication across Africa by the British, as part of their economic investment in Africa. Railways and waterways are examined.
Proposals; Part 2, Nos 1 and 2. Messrs Fitzgerald and Mercer to Colonial Office (23 June 1879) and Colonial Office to Messrs Fitzgerald and Mercer (11 July 1879); held at the National Archives, CO 879/38/451.; Reports on Inspections Made to Ascertain the Best Lines of Possible Railway Extension in the Colony. No. 1, Possible Extensions of the Western and Midland Systems (Cape Town: Department of Crown Lands and Public Works, 1879).; 3: Correspondence having Reference to Construction of Railways in Territory of Bechuanaland (Cape Town: Government Printer, 1889).; 4: Railway Extension through British Bechuanaland (Cape Town: Government Printer, 1890).; 5: E. L. Bentley, Handbook to the Uganda Question and Proposed East Africa Railway (London: Chapman & Hall, 1892).; 6: The Railway Extension from Charlestown to Johannesburg. Copy of Agreements dated 3rd and 12th February and 25th April, 1894 between the Governments of the Colony of Natal and the South African Republic (Durban: T. L. Cullingworth, 1894).; 7: Memorandum on the Question of the Delagoa Bay Railway (printed for the use of the Colonial Office, 1896); held at the National Archives, CO 879/56/2.; 8: F. Cardew, Railway Schemes for the Colony of Sierra Leone. An Address before the African Trade Section of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, 2 August 1895 (Liverpool: Chamber of Commerce, 1895).; 9: The Beira Railway. Report of Proceedings of the Various Meetings held in Salisbury, Rhodesia, on the above Question (London: printed on behalf of the Beira Railway Extension Committee, Salisbury, Rhodesia, 1895).; Wassau (Gold Coast) Mining Coompany, Limited, to Colonial Office (19 August 1897); held at the National Archives, CO 879/49/2, No. 185a.; C. S. Betton, ‘Prospective Railway Development in British Equatorial Africa’, Journal of the Society of Arts (4 July 1902), pp. 684–90.; 12: Informal Conference with Mr. F. Bedford Glasier, on the Subject of the Lagos Railway, held at the Exchange Station Hotel, on Monday, April 27th, 1903, African Trade Section of the Incorporated Chamber of Commerce (Liverpool: C. Tinling & Co. printers, 1903).; 13: The Right Railway System and the Best Outlets for Nigeria (London: Marsden & Co. Ltd, 1906).; 14: Report on Transport Policy to Develop the Northern Provinces of Northern Nigeria (printed for the use of the Colonial Office, 1912); held at the National Archives, CO 879/110/2.; 15: Transport in Africa. East African Commission’s Recommendations , British Cotton Growing Association Publications Series, 90 (Manchester: British Cotton Growing Association, 1925).; E. Grigg, Memorandum on Railway Development (Nairobi:Government Printer, 1926).
