March 1900 - March 29, 1900 (Thursday)

March 29, 1900 (Thursday)

• In Bern, Switzerland, an arbitration tribunal resolved claims arising from the Delagoa Bay Railroad. Portugal was ordered to pay to Great Britain and the United States 15,314,000 francs and 5% interest from June 25, 1889, roughly $5,000,000. The railroad, built to link Lourenço Marques in Portuguese East Africa (now Mozambique) to Pretoria, South Africa, had been started by construction companies in Britain and the United States, but seized by the Portuguese government. The British and American governments then filed claims for damages.
• Born: John McEwen, Prime Minister of Australia for one month in 1968, in Chiltern, Victoria; (d. 1980)