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.

In 1875 a Treaty of Friendship and Commerce was concluded between Portugal and the South African Republic. It was ratified in 1882, and is in force for twenty years from that date. By a Protocol annexed to it, Portugal engaged to assist in the construction of a line from Lourenco Marques to the frontier of the South African Republic, by giving to any substantial Company formed for that purpose a subvention equal to half the estimated cost, with sundry other privileges. The Company would have the exclusive right of working the railway for ninety-nine years, at the end of which time it would revert to the Portuguese Government without compensation. These promises were of course in flagrant violation of the MacMurdo Contract, and the Portuguese Government used every endeavour to keep them secret. They did not communicate the Memorandum to the Portuguese Company, and they did not include it in the Portuguese White Book of 1885.