In the Cape Town House of Assembly General Smuts; as
reported by the Times correspondent, has protested strongly against the South African Government's attitude towards the Lobito Bay Railway scheme for which a loan has been raised in London on the British Government's guarantee under the auspices of the Trades Facilities Committee. General Hertzog stated that the present Union Government had refused at the request of Rhodesia to renew the late Government's protest to the British Government against their supporting a railWay, because it would compete with the South African Railways. • Friends of progress must welcome the action of the present South African Government. The Lobito Bay route through the Portuguese Colony of Angola will be the means of develop- ing large tracts of Central Africa and will incidentally bring the Katanga district of the Congo and Rhodesia closer to Europe. .Surely &kith Africa will benefit in the long run by taking the broad view. It will -be a great day for Africa when Mr. Robert Williams gets his trains running from Lobito Bay to the Congo and thus links up his line with the Cape to Cairo system. ' Mr. Williams, who was a friend of Cecil Rhodes, has played an important part in opening up Africa.
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