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3 Chapter 1 $6ORZ%HJLQQLQJî1895 The earliest phase of the Gold Coast railway system was marked by indecision and delay, resulting from a lack of commitment to a railway policy. Discussions began as early as 1879, but it was not until 1893 that the Colonial Office authorised surveys in the colony as part of a general scheme for the whole of British West Africa. Before 1893, initiatives came mainly from private speculators. During the 1870s and 1880s, trade and communications between the coast and the interior depended almost exclusively on head-loading over rough and poorly maintained roads. There were, however, some attempts by the colonial administration to clear existing trade routes and construct new roads on which officials could travel. Chiefs were granted annual stipends for mobilising communal labour for road clearance, with an additional allowance of £2 per mile for work carried out.1 As late as 1889, it was reported that: Except in the immediate vicinity in the largest coast towns, there were no roads in the country. The so-calOHGURDGVDUHPHUHIRRWSDWKVî18 inches broad, with the high bush on either side, tortuous, blocked with falling trunks, flooded with water in the rainy season, interrupted by bridgeless rivers . . .2 These conditions seriously hampered trade. Head-loading was labourintensive and expensive. For years, hammock men and carriers were paid one shilling (1/-) per day, plus threepence (3d) subsistence, which was the standard rate for all wage labour. To put this in perspective, it cost about £10 to transport a ton of goods 60 miles and the cost of transport amounted to about half the price paid to the palm oil and rubber producers for the goods.3 Transport problems for corporate mining activity in the interior were even more acute. Mining equipment had to be designed so that it could be dismantled into components weighing no more than 50 lb, so that each part could be carried by one person. Not only was this slow and inefficient, but it was not uncommon for porters to abandon the loads and return to their villages, making future mining activities problematic.4 4 In order to expand the Gold Coast Colony’s trade and production and promote British mining in the western districts, the authorities believed that transport facilities had to be improved to meet the needs of exports, particularly of rubber. The earliest calls for the introduction of railways appear to have come from the expatriate community engaged in the Gold &RDVW·VLPSRUWîH[SRUWWUDGH 7KH$VKDQWL:DURIî74 renewed interest in the gold deposits in the Wassau and Tarkwa districts and by 1878, two expatriate mining companies had commenced operations there. The first ‘jungle boom’ was underway and by 1882, twelve companies were engaged in gold mining in the colony.5 The first proposal for a railway came in 1879 when Fitzgerald, editor of the African Times, and Mercer, former Director of Public Works on the Gold Coast, sought a government guarantee for a proposed company to build three railway lines. The first line was from Accra to Kpong on the Volta and was to serve the eastern palm oil and cotton districts. The second was from Saltpond, to serve the palm oil and rubber districts of the Central Province. The third line was from Shama near Sekondi to the Wassau gold mines in the Western Province. When the Colonial Office failed to respond to the proposal, the two men persuaded some influential merchants with West African connections, including two Members of Parliament, to sign a petition on the urgent need for the railways. Armed with this, they submitted their application again.6 Two further proposals followed. The first was from Le Brun, a French merchant who was also Agent for the Netherlands Government on the Gold Coast, for a 50-mile line to link Elmina and Prahsu. The second was from Barry, a British engineer, for a coastal line to link Accra with Elmina. Then, in May 1883, 48 expatriate merchants banded together to float the idea of a 40-mile line from Elmina to open up the central agricultural areas.7 All these proposals were premised on substantial government assistance, as well as approval, but both the Colonial Government and the Colonial Office were extremely cautious. They had three areas of concern. First, all the schemes sought a guarantee of interest on the capital outlay. This had been a common feature of transport innovation in the British Empire during the mid...

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