The Transvaal Concessions Commission, which is now sitting at Pretoria,
has elicited some very striking facts as to
the part played by the Netherlands Railway Company during the war. The diary of Mr. Van Kretschmar, the managing director, which fell into the hands of the military authorities, showed not only that the company had joined in, and even taken the initiative in, military operations, but also that they had acted as what Renter's correspondent with a magnificent reticence of phrase calls " almoners " to the Transvaal Government in three specific instances, "one being the occasion of the visit to Pretoria of Mr. Hargrove. Mr. Kretscilmar admitted the payment of £1,000 towards the expenses of the conciliation tour' made by Mr. Hargrove in Cape Colony. In the second instance, it was disclosed that Mr. Reginald Statham, a Pro-Boer journalist and author, had been for some time in receipt of an annual salary for a substantial amount, which was paid through the Netherlands Railway Company. Mr. Statham on one occasion asked to be accommodated with 2300 in connection with some furni- ture transaction, whereupon the railway company advanced him 2150. In the third case, Mr. Mendelssohn, late of the Standard and Diggers' News, was favoured at the head offices of the company in Amsterdam with a loan of £6,000." In one of Mr. Kretschmar's letters he states :—" We have compromised ourselves by deed and word and writing. We have made cannon and ammunition, destroyed bridges on English territory, we have paid our staff on commando, and have assisted the Free State with persons and materials." We reserve comment upon these facts for the present, as the matter must be considered sub judice till the Concessions Commission reports.
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