Written by Jane Silberbauer
The Cape Chronicle, July 1860
It has long been the custom of this journal to concern itself with matters of substance rather than of fashion, and it is in that spirit — and not from any idle fancy for novelty — that the editor takes up her pen this week to address a subject which she believes merits the earnest attention of every ratepayer in this town: the question of tramways.
Our readers will be aware that in England, and lately upon the Continent, there has arisen a new manner of conveying passengers through crowded streets — carriages run not upon the common roadway, worn and rutted as our own too frequently are, but upon iron rails laid level with the ground, over which a single pair of horses may draw a vehicle of a size that would otherwise require three or four. The advantages of such a system, once examined without prejudice, are not difficult to enumerate, and the editor will set them before her readers plainly.
First, there is the matter of economy. Any coachman of experience will tell you that a horse labours far less in drawing a given weight upon iron than upon macadam or upon the loose sand which afflicts so many of our suburban thoroughfares. It follows that fewer horses need be kept, fed, and stabled to perform the same service — a consideration which cannot fail to recommend itself to those gentlemen who have ventured capital in the omnibus trade, and who know better than most the expense of maintaining a stable.
Second, there is the comfort of the passenger, a matter too often neglected by those who concern themselves chiefly with the ledger. Any lady or gentleman who has endured the jolting of an omnibus over our ill-kept streets, clutching at the strap with one hand and their parcels with the other, will need no persuading on this head. A carriage running upon rails moves with a smoothness that our present conveyances cannot hope to rival, and it is no small thing to say that the elderly, the infirm, and the very young might travel by such means in a manner presently denied them.
Third — and here the editor speaks not merely as an observer of other lands but as one who has given the matter some considerable thought as it applies to our own — there is the question of what such a system might do for the growth of this town. Cape Town is not confined within her present limits by nature, but by convenience; a family will not readily remove to Rondebosch or to the slopes beyond if the journey into town be tedious and uncertain. Let the means of travel be swift, regular, and inexpensive, and the town will spread accordingly, to the benefit of every tradesman who presently complains that custom will not follow him beyond the old boundaries.
It will no doubt be objected, by those disposed to object to any change whatsoever, that the expense of laying such rails is not inconsiderable, and that our streets were not made with such a purpose in view. To this the editor can only reply that no town was ever improved by those who counted the cost of progress without also counting the cost of standing still. Every convenience we presently enjoy was once a novelty proposed by some person of more foresight than his neighbours, and met, we may be sure, with the same objections now raised against the tramway.
The editor does not pretend to a complete knowledge of engineering, nor does she claim that the difficulties of introducing such a system to our streets are trifling. But she ventures to suggest that the gentlemen of this town — those of enterprise, and those of means — might do worse than to give the matter their serious consideration, before the advantage of being first is claimed by some other colony less deserving of it than our own.
Editor’s note: This article is a creative work purporting an article written by Jane Silberbauer and cited by P.R. Coates in his book ” Track and Trackless: Omnibuses and Trams in the Western Cape” (1976). It is the first reference to the Cape Chronicle to indicate its date of origin as a newspaper.
