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Rhodesiana Volume 21

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Rhodesiana Volume 21 Circa 1906 • • r ... ., . ... -... .. .. The Standard Bank Limited, Gwelo 1931 The abov,· building is slmrdy ro be demolished to make way For a nc\\ Jhnk building on the Slmc sire. PREMIER ESTATE 1905 1969 A steam-driven traclor used by Premier estate. Umtali. in 1905. The estate was taken over by ·n,e British South Africa Company a year later. In 1965 British South Africa Company and Anglo American Corporation interests in Rhodcsil were merged. Today Premier, which is administered by Anglo American Corporation, grows oranges as its principal crop. Some 358 tons were produced in 1969: maize totaUed 7,600 bags. • • . 11.VTO THE ?O's Rhodesia Railways enter a new decade better equipped than ever before to meet tomorrow's challenge. Modern methods of management, signalling, train and traffic control, and the rapid technological advances made in the mechanical and scientific fields, will be used to meet every challenge that is encountered. With confidence, then, INTO THE ?O's to meet Rhodesia's growing trans­ port needs. RHODESIA BAILJVAYS 111 KINGSTONS LIMITED thank members of the RHODESIANA SOCIETY for their support of the new publishing venture THE PIONEER HEAD. Due to this support it is announced that the COLLECTORS EDITION of the first facsimile reprint, AFRICAN NATURE NOTES AND REMINISCENCES by Frederic'.-. Courteney Selous. is Out of Print. However THE PIONEER HEAD advise that the ORDINARY EDITION, bound in full Buckram and with a pictorial dust jacket, is now available and can be obtained from THE PIONEER HEAD, P.O. Box 591, Salisbury, or from Kingstons branches and booksellers throughout Rhodesia. Nevertheless, demand is expected to be heavy, and it is suggested that members of the RHODESIANA SOCIETY who have not yet placed their order for the Ordinary Edition should do so without delay. There will be no reprint of this edition. AFRICAN NATURE NOTES AND REMINISCENCES is 75s. per copy, plus 2s. 6d. Sales Tax and if posted an additional 2s. 6d. The next publication in the series will be TWELVE HUNDRED MILES IN A WAGGON by Alice Blanche Balfour. THE PIONEER HEAD P.O. Box 591 Salisbury iv RHODESIANA Publication No. 21 — December, 1969 THE RHODESIANA SOCIETY Salisbury Rhodesia www.rhodesia.nl CONTENTS Page THE UMTALI TRAMWAYS LIMITED, BY CLYDE L. SHOEBRIDGE 1 THE GRAVEYARD AT OLD MARANDELLAS, BY R. HODDER- WILLIAMS 10 "DISCOVERER OF SIMBABYE" : THE STORY OF KARL MAUCH, 1837-75. PART I, BY F. O. BERNHARD 19 THE BIRTH OF AN AIRLINE: THE ESTABLISHMENT OF RHO­ DESIA AND NYASALAND AIRWAYS, BY J. MCADAM .. 36 HOULTON AUGUSTUS DE BEER: 1895 BULAWAYO EARLY SETTLER, BY B. H. DE BEER 51 THE MURIEL MINE AND THOSE WHO BUILT IT, BY MERNA WILSON 55 SOCIETY ACTIVITIES 61 SOME RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY OF THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES, COMPILED BY C. COGGIN 68 PERIODICALS AND ARTICLES OF INTEREST: A SURVEY COM­ PILED BY ALISON MCHARG 71 NOTES 75 REVIEWS 84 The cover picture is from the Illustrated London News of December 13th, 1890, page 741, and shows—"British South Africa Company Police crossing a stream." vii The Rhodesiana Society The Society exists to promote Rhodesian historical studies and to encourage research. It also aims to unite all who wish to foster a wider appreciation and knowledge of the history of Rhodesia. There is no entrance fee; the subscription is £1 10s. Rhodesian currency ($5 U.S.A. or R3.30) a year, and this entitles paid-up members to those numbers of Rhodesiana issued during the year. There are two issues in each year, dated July and December. For further information and particulars concerning member­ ship, please write to: The Honorary Secretary, The Rhodesiana Society, P.O. Box 8268, Causeway, Salisbury, Rhodesia. For information about Branch activities please write to: Matabeleland Branch, P.O. Box 192, Bulawayo. Manicaland Branch, P.O. Box 136, Umtali. Manuscripts will be welcomed by the Editor; they should preferably be typed in double spacing and be complete with any illustrations. Copies of published works for review will also be welcomed. National Executive Committee Members H. A. Cripwell, Chairman Col. A. S. Hickman, M.B.E., Deputy Chairman M. J. Kimberley, Honorary Secretary W. V. Brelsford, Editor E. E. Burke Dr. R. C. Howland R. Isaacson D. T. Low, Matabeleland Branch Representative Rev. E. L. Sells, Manicaland Branch Representative G. H. Tanser R. W. S. Turner, Membership and Advertising Matabeleland Branch Manicaland Branch Committee Members Committee Members P. B. Gibbs, M.B.E., Chairman Rev. E. L. Sells, Chairman L. Bolze Miss. A. Cripps, Honorary F. V. Clarance Secretary D. C. Mason Honorary F. O. Bernhard Secretary P. G. Deedes, C.M.G. Dr. O. N. Ransford B. H. de Beer H. J. Vickery P. Hutchinson viii The Umtali Tramways Limited by Clyde L. Shoebridge* Introduction The town of Umtali, nestling mid the rolling hills of the Eastern Highlands of Rhodesia, southern Africa, once possessed a tramway. Any such service which actually functioned as an important means of developing a town to the way which we know it today, deserves to be recorded before the history is forgotten and lost forever. This is the story of that tramway service, the only street tramway to operate in this country; its formation, life and prolonged demise. The first settlement in this district was at Fort Umtali in 1890 by the British South Africa Company. The following year a town was built at this second site and then the railway from the coast at Beira, 210 miles away in Mozambique, was under construction. Due to engineering difficulties it was not practical to bring the line through the existing town. During a visit to Umtali in March 1896 Cecil John Rhodes told the towns people of this decision and advised them to move their town to a new site on the railway whist his company was willing to pay them compensation. He said the alternative was for the town to die and business to drift across in natural succession without compensation. New Umtali Some nine miles away a site was selected and laid out to be similar to the former town. Neighbours secured stands (building sites) next to their old neigh­ bours to resettle. New Umtali was ambitious and it was even before the railway had arrived and the town moved that the tramway venture was mooted. Company Formation On the 26th January, 1897, the Umtali Tramways Limited was registered under the British South Africa Ordinance No. 2 of 1895. The objects of the company were to acquire the sole rights to construct a line of tramway and to work the business of a tramway company on the commonage (an area within, on the edge of, or surrounding a town) and in the public thoroughfares of the New Umtali township. It was stated that they intended to at once lay down a two-foot-gauge line and introduce rolling stock for the conveyance of building materials and other necessary goods immediately required for the erection of the town. The prospectus showed the capital at £5,000 divided into 25 per cent on application, 25 per cent on allotment and two other calls on 1st April and 1st * Clyde L. Shoebridge comes from Sydney, Australia, and wrote this article in South Africa during a world tour which included Rhodesia in September 1968. 1 July 1897. The signatories of the memorandum and articles of association, con­ sisting of 66 pages foolscap of neat handwriting, were: Charles Goldring, store­ keeper; A. Tulloch, auctioneer; C. Weipenborn, farmer; Alfred W. Suter, merchant; J. A. Cope-Christie, architect; W. H. Lane, clerk; and James Henry Jeffreys, mining engineer. Each subscribed to 100 shares, the public issue, together with another local company of the same time, The Umtali Brick, Tile and Lime Co. Ltd., was greatly oversubscribed. Tramway Agreement A memorandum of agreement was drawn up on the 19th February, 1897, between the British South Africa Company and Alfred William Suter of Umtali granting him the sole rights in the concession of building and operating a tram­ way in the New Town of Umtali from quarries at one end and the brickfields and railway at the other end. This also set out that the gauge was not to be less than two feet, certain powers for renewal for 21 years from January 1900, after which expiration the tramway had to spend a sum not exceeding £20,000 on tramway improvement. Was it a coincidence that this was to be the life of the tramway? The freight rate was set at 4s. per ton which on 13th July the same year was altered to a sliding scale of under 500 tons per month, 10s. per ton; to 950 tons 7s. 6d. and over 5s. per ton. Provision for a passenger service was made at 6d. per mile and for the purpose of their operation a stand of land was granted; No. 647 on Main Street at East Avenue corner. Lapse of Time The affairs of the township and that of the new town were managed by a sanitary board as was common with other early Rhodesian towns. The Rhodesian Advertiser, published in Umtali, said on the 25th December, 1896: "If Messrs. Tulloch, Suter and Weipenborn are to occupy their seats on the Sanitary Board it is their bounded duty to, for a time at least, relinquish all active voice in the Umtali Tramway Scheme, or to choose between the Board or Company." The matter of approving or otherwise the grant of exclusive rights was extensively discussed at a meeting of the Sanitary Board on the 13th January, 1897, and eventually granted with slight alterations to the clause which would have penalised the company for not laying its tracks by a set date.
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