Your Commission entirely disapprove of concessions, through which the

industrial prosperity of the country is hampered. Such might have

been expedient in the past, but the country has now arrived at a

state of development that will only admit of free competition

according to republican principles. This applies more especially to

the gold industry, which has to face its own economical problems

without being further burdened with concessions that are irksome and

injurious to the industry and will always remain a source of

irritation and dissatisfaction.

As to white labour:--

Your Commission are of opinion that wages are not excessive, regard

being had to the high cost of living at the mines. In fact, they are

only sufficient to satisfy daily wants, and, consequently, it cannot

be expected that white labourers will establish their permanent abode

in this Republic unless conditions are made by which their position

will be ameliorated....

Your Commission are of opinion that as long as the cost of living

cannot be considerably reduced it will be almost impossible to reduce

the wages of white labourers, and they would strongly recommend that,

as far as possible, necessaries of life should be imported free of

duty and conveyed to the mines as cheaply as possible.

As to the sale of liquor:--

It has been proved to your Commission that the Liquor Law is not

carried out properly, and that the mining industry has real

grievances in connection therewith, owing to the illicit sale of

strong drink to the natives at the mines, and they wish especially

and strongly to insist that the stipulations of article 16 of the law

shall be strictly enforced. The evidence given on this point proves

that a miserable state of affairs exists, and a much stronger

application of the law is required.

Following this there is a long criticism with recommendations in

detail.

As to import duties:--

With reference to this matter, your Commission can only recommend

that, if possible, foodstuffs ought to be entirely free from

taxation, as at the present moment it is impossible to supply the

population of the Republic from the products of local agriculture and

consequently importation is absolutely necessary.

As to explosives:--

Before entering on this subject, we wish to put on record our

disappointment with the evidence tendered on behalf of the South

African Explosives Company, Ltd. We expected, and we think not

unreasonably, that they would be able to give reliable information

for our guidance respecting the cost of importation, as well as of

local manufacture, of the principal explosives used for mining

purposes; but, though persistently questioned on these points, few

facts were elicited and we regret to say that they entirely failed to

satisfy us in this important respect....

That the principal explosives used here can be purchased in Europe,

and delivered here at a price far below the present cost to the

mines, has been proved to us by the evidence of many witnesses

competent to speak on the subject, and when we bear in mind that the

excess charge of 40s. to 45s. per case does not benefit the State,

but serves to enrich individuals for the most part resident in

Europe, the injustice of such a tax on the staple industry becomes

more apparent and demands immediate removal.

After showing that the dynamite monopolists make a profit of 47s. 6d.

per case on No. 1 dynamite, and 55s. on blasting gelatine, over and

above the price at which the mines could buy explosives if there were

no monopoly or protection, the report goes on:--

The Mining Industry has thus to bear a burden which does not enrich

the State or bring any benefit in return, and this fact must always

prove a source of irritation and annoyance to those who, while

willing to contribute to just taxation for the general good, cannot

acquiesce in an impost of the nature complained of....

Your Commission inspected the factory at Modderfontein, and it must

be admitted that the construction of the works and general equipment

are in many respects admirable, and it appears to us greatly to be

regretted that so much money should have been invested in an

undertaking for the manufacture of any article whereof the

ingredients have to be imported at a great cost, four tons of raw

material being required to produce one ton of the manufactured

article.

It has been proved to our satisfaction that none of the raw material

used is found in this country, or only in such small quantities as to

make it practically valueless for the purpose required.... All these

drawbacks, which make it almost impossible to establish a bonâ-fide

industry, fall on the mines and render their task, especially that of

the low-grade mines, extremely difficult and discouraging. Another

point that has been brought to the notice of your Commission is the

prejudicial effect exercised by this monopoly in practically

excluding from the country all new inventions in connection with

explosives, and, in view of the numerous dynamite accidents that have

taken place from time to time, it is to be regretted that it is not

possible to make satisfactory trials of other and less dangerous

explosives for the working of the mines. These questions have

received the careful consideration of your Commission, who are forced

to the conclusion that the factory has not attained the object for

which it was established, and that there is no reasonable prospect of

it doing so. Further, that there are good grounds for believing that

the contractors have failed to comply with the conditions of their

contract.

For the aforesaid reasons, and in view of the opinion expressed by

the Volksraad Dynamite Commission, that the legal position of the

Government against the contractors is undoubtedly strong, your

Commission desire to recommend that the case be placed in the hands

of the legal advisers of the State, with a view to ascertaining

whether the contract cannot be cancelled.

Meanwhile your Commission recommend that the Government avail itself

forthwith of its right under Article 15 of the Regulations, to take

away the agency of trading in gunpowder, dynamite, cartridges, and

other explosives from the above-mentioned persons and at once take

into its own hands the importation of dynamite and other explosives

for the benefit of the mining industry, subject to a duty of not more

than 20s. per case or such other less sum as may be determined from

time to time.

This protective duty, while considerably increasing the revenue of

the State, will at the same time offer ample protection to any

industry of this description in the Republic. In the event of

cancellation being advised to be possible, free trade in explosives

to be at once established, subject to a duty of 20s. per case or such

other less duty as may be determined upon from time to time, and

manufacturing of other explosives in the Republic to be allowed, and

also to be protected by the same import duty....

Your Commission desire further to observe that it is not clear to

them, judging from the published accounts of the South African

Explosives Company for 1895 and 1896, that the Government receives

the proportion of surplus profit secured to it under the contract,

viz., 20 per cent., and would strongly recommend, in accordance

with Article 6 of the contract, an immediate investigation of the

Company's accounts by qualified accountants, in conjunction with the

financial adviser of the Commission, in order to find out what amount

is still due to the Government under this head.

As to railways:--

Your Commission have followed with great attention and interest the

evidence and statistics submitted on this point. From those it

appears that not only are the tariffs charged by the Netherlands

Railway Company such that by the reduction of the same the industry

would be considerably benefited, but that such a reduction would

necessitate that the neighbouring States and Colonies would also have

to reduce their tariffs considerably.

Your Commission have come to the conclusion that, taking into

consideration the evidence submitted to them, and taking the gross

revenue of traffic of goods at about £2,000,000 (as in 1896) it would

be desirable to recommend so to regulate the tariff that the gross

revenue for 1896 would have been reduced by £500,000, equivalent to

an average reduction of 25 per cent. Further, your Commission deem it

desirable that the Government shall make such arrangement as will

secure to them in the future a voice in the fixing of the tariffs of

the N.Z.A.S.M., and express their confidence that as soon as

prosperous times will warrant such a course a further reduction in

tariffs will be effected. Your Commission wish to recommend that the

reduction will be chiefly applied to traffic of coal, timber, mining

machinery, and foodstuffs, according to a scale to be agreed upon

between the Government and the N.Z.A.S.M. Your Commission are of

opinion that in this manner the industry will be met in a very fair

way. Your Commission wish to express the opinion that it is

absolutely necessary that the reduction in all local tariffs will be

brought about as speedily as possible, while they express the hope

that where the co-operation of the neighbouring States and Colonies

is required, negotiations will be initiated and carried out so

speedily that the reductions to be so initiated will come into force

not later than 1st January next. Several witnesses and some of the

Commission have urged the expropriation of the N.Z.A.S.M. by the

Government. Your Commission, however, for several reasons known to

them, and after same have been communicated to those members of the

Commission who wished to urge the expropriation of the N.Z.A.S.M., do

not at the present moment desire to urge expropriation provided by

the other means terms can be secured from the Company so as to obtain

the reduction at present urgently required on the basis as above set

forth. Your Commission have been informed that the Company have

proposed to adopt the dividends of the three years 1895, 1896, and

1897 as a basis for the expropriation price, and your Commission can

agree to such proposal. The expropriation price being thus fixed, the

Company will have all the more reason to co-operate towards the

lowering of the tariffs. Further, it appears from the evidence of the

managing director of the N.Z.A.S.M., that in consideration of the

reduction of tariffs, he wished to have secured to the Company a

certain period of existence. Your Commission cannot recommend this

course, because they do not deem the same to be in the interests of

the State, and it would be contrary to the wishes of the public.

As to gold thefts:--

According to the evidence submitted to your Commission, gold thefts

are on the increase, and although the Volksraad has given the matter

their favourable consideration, and have, at the instance of the

Mining Industry, so amended the Gold Law as to provide for the

punishment of the sale and being in possession of raw gold, still it

has been stated to your Commission in evidence, that the gold thefts

amount to about 10 per cent. of the output, equivalent to an amount

of £750,000 per annum. It follows that the administration of the law

must be faulty, because there are only very few instances where the

crime has been detected and punished. If those figures are not

exaggerated, and your Commission have no reason to suppose so, then

this matter deserves the serious consideration of the Government. The

suppression of this crime can be considered as a real saving to the

industry, and this amount of three-quarters of a million would,

especially in times of depression, exercise a large influence on the

yield and financial position of the mines. The industry ask that the

penal clauses regarding this matter shall be eliminated from the Gold

Law, and that a separate law be passed, more or less on the basis of

the I.D.B. Law of Kimberley, Cape Colony, and that measures shall be

taken by which the injured parties shall be enabled to exercise

control, and have supervision over any department to be established

for the detection and suppression of thefts of new gold. Your

Commission are of opinion that the Government could grant this

request without injuring their dignity, on the basis hereinafter

mentioned. On the contrary, it would remove the blame from the

present administration, viz., that these thefts can be practically

carried on with impunity.

As to the Local Board:--

The evidence which has been laid before your Commission has contained

suggestions to establish a Board on which Government nominees and

representatives of the mining industry and of the commercial

community of the Witwatersrand should sit, so that the Government

representatives should have the benefit of the experience of men

whose daily occupation it is to look closely into all the affairs

appertaining to the mines, &c. Your Commission is of opinion that it

is advisable that these suggestions should be acted upon. The scope

of this Board should consist of the supervision of the administration

of the following laws, viz.:--

The Liquor Law as far as it concerns the proclaimed goldfields, the

Pass Law, and the Law relating to Gold Thefts; and the Board will

further have an advisory voice in the supply of natives to the mines,

which your Commission has recommended your Government to take into

its own hands. The area under the surveillance of the Board should

include the Heidelberg, Witwatersrand, and Klerksdorp districts, and

other goldfields as may be found desirable hereafter. Your Commission

suggests that the Board consists of the following: Five members to be

appointed by the Government, and four delegates to be appointed by

the following bodies, with the consent of the Government, viz., one

delegate of the Chamber of Mines, one of the Association of Mines (or

in case of an amalgamation, two representatives of the new Chamber),

a nominee of the Mine Managers' Association, and a nominee of the

commercial community of Johannesburg. Your Commission would advise

that a separate detective force be placed under the department, whose

duty it should be to detect any infringements of the above-mentioned

laws, and to bring the offenders to justice in the ordinary course of

law. It should also be in the sphere of the Board's work to report to

the proper authorities any laxity on the part of the officials who

have to administer the above-mentioned laws. The Board is to report

to the Executive Council upon the working of the laws referred to,

and to suggest alterations. It must be well understood that the power

of this Board must in no way clash with the sphere of the Minister of

the Mines department and the Licensing Board, but co-operate with the

same. We should adduce as a reason the more for the creation of such

a Board that Government could depute to them the right to receive

deputations, hear their arguments, and report to the Government on

the subject, whereby a great saving of time would be the result. We

would recommend that the Commission be appointed at once, and that

they shall frame their proposals for regulations and submit them at

once to the Government.

The establishment of a local mining board has been strongly urged by

witnesses. From an industrial and financial point of view this

country must be considered as still in its infancy, and, without loss

of dignity or prestige, the Government may accede to the above

request. Experience in these matters can only be attained after the

lapse of long years, and by coming in contact with experts from other

countries the State will reap the benefit of the knowledge obtained

in their country, where these problems have for decades exercised the

minds of their leading citizens.

In conclusion, your Commission fervently hope that they have truly

and faithfully interpreted the object of the inquiry, and that their

suggestions and recommendations, if acted upon, will confer a lasting

benefit on the country and people.

The evidence, as has been stated, was all given on oath, and some

very interesting details came out. In one case Dr. Leyds's system of

misrepresentation was exposed. Whilst the Commission was actually

taking evidence the then State Secretary in an interview with the

Paris _Temps_ strongly supported the dynamite monopoly, and stated

that the price charged, namely, 90s. per case, was the same at which

the Chamber of Mines had offered to enter into a sixteen years'

contract with Nobel's factory. A witness questioned on this point

explained that this was quite true as regards price, but that Dr.

Leyds had suppressed the essential fact that whereas out of the 90s.

paid to the monopolists the Government only receive 5s. by way of

duty, they would out of the 90s. which it was proposed to pay for

Nobel's dynamite receive no less than 38s. per case as duty, and that

if the contract proposed by the Chamber had been made the Government

would have profited during the previous four years to the extent of

£1,200,000 instead of £150,000. Upon another occasion light was

thrown on dark places in a rather disconcerting fashion. Mr.

Christiaan Joubert, Minister of Mines, took one of the witnesses in

hand with the object of showing that the people of Johannesburg had

only themselves to thank for the loss of confidence in this business.

The following questions and answers are from the official report:--

Should not the Chamber of Mines co-operate with the Department of

Mines to get a law protecting European shareholders from being

defrauded by swindlers?--I don't know if such a law could be framed

without interfering with what, in other countries, is considered to

be personal liberty. You have to come to the point whether the man

intended to swindle, and that can only be settled by the Court, as a

matter of personal judgment. If a good law could be devised it would

be beneficial.

Is there no possibility for the Chamber of Mines to work with the

Department for the passing of such a law?--I don't know if laws exist

in France, Germany, England, or America, to that specific effect; but

if so, I would be guided by the wisdom and immense experience of the

law makers of those countries, otherwise we might be rushing in where

angels fear to tread.

Is it then possible? Are you willing to discuss the matter with

us?--Oh, yes; but I do not think that that is exactly what is wanted

in order to restore confidence. Lots of things combine to shake the

confidence of investors. For instance, to deal with some small and

homely matters, I was told by a member of the Sanitary Board

yesterday that an application for the underground rights of the

Market Square, had been made by Mr. Jan Meyer, a leading member of

the Volksraad. That does not help to restore confidence. The Sanitary

Board applied for a portion of the Telephone Tower Park in order to

erect a Town Hall. They were refused. Now, some one has made an

application for the right to erect swimming baths. That does not

restore confidence. I hope the mere publication of these things will

prevent them from succeeding. The Sanitary Board applied for the

Union Ground, also for public purposes, but it was granted to private

applicants on the quiet. They have hawked it about and borrowed money

on it. It was offered to many of the big capitalists here, but they

would not touch it. The Sanitary Board are told that a building is to

be put up, in which fifty rooms will be set aside for them, but they

are not satisfied that the authorities should do good by stealth and

blush to find it fame.

I cannot understand how mere applications can shake

confidence?--Well, they do, because they are only made when there is

a chance of their being granted. But, if you want facts, I will tell

you what shook the investor's confidence as much as anything that has

happened for years--that was the Ferreira claim-jumping raid, which

it was sworn to in Court had been suggested by you yourself, Mr.

Joubert.

Not 'suggested' by me--

The Chairman said the witness was straying away from the original

question.

Witness said that the Minister of Mines had wanted examples of what

shook confidence, so he was obliged to give them.

The report of the Commission created a very favourable impression.

The majority of people believed that although it might not be

entirely acted upon, yet it would be quite impossible for the

President and the Volksraad to disregard suggestions made by so

influential a group of officials as those forming the Commission, and

that at any rate most of the recommendations would be accepted. The

unbelieving few who knew their President Kruger, however, waited for

something to be _done_. Presently ominous rumours went round about

differences in the Executive. Then came the scenes in the Volksraad,

when the President revealed himself and charged Mr. Schalk Burger

with being a traitor to his country for having signed such a report,

followed by the usual fight and the usual victory for the President,

and the usual Committee constituted mainly of extreme Conservatives

appointed to report upon the other Commission's report; and then the

usual result: Something for nothing. The Netherlands Railway made an

inconsiderable reduction in rates, which it appears was designed to

buy off, and did succeed in buying off, further scrutiny of its

affairs. With regard to the two big monopolies, Dynamite and Railway,

it appears that the Volksraad Commission accepted the private

assurances of the monopolists as sufficient warrant for reversing the

conclusions of the Industrial Commission. The proposed Local Board

for the goldfields was promptly ruled out as an unthinkable

proposition, a government within a government, and was so denounced

by the President himself. But the report of the Volksraad

Committee contained one supreme stroke of humour. It adopted the

recommendations of the Industrial Commission to remit the duties upon

certain articles of consumption so as to make living cheaper, but as

a condition it stipulated that in order that the State revenue should

not suffer, the duty upon other articles of consumption should be

increased so as to rather more than counterbalance the loss. That was

one result which the Uitlanders had in the beginning confidently

expected: Something for nothing. But the other result upon which they

had also calculated was a valuable one. They had put their case on

record and for the future the task of justifying the Uitlanders'

cause was to be reduced to the formality of pointing to the

Industrial Commission's report.

The third event of importance, and an event of much greater

importance than has generally been recognised, was the Queen's Record

Reign celebration in Johannesburg. 'Britons, hold up your heads !'

was the watchword with which the late Mr. W. Y. Campbell started to

organize what he eventually carried out as the biggest and most

enthusiastic demonstration ever made in the country. No more

unselfish and loyal subject of her Majesty ever set foot in South

Africa than Mr. Campbell, whose organization and example to 'Rand

Britons,' as he called them, did more to hearten up British subjects

in the Transvaal than has ever been fully realized or properly

acknowledged. The celebration was an immense success in itself, and

besides restoring the hopes and spirits of British subjects it

promoted generally a better feeling and a disposition to forget past

differences.

One of the consequences of the Raid and Reform had been a split in

the Chamber of Mines caused by the secession of a minority who held

views strongly opposed to those of the Reform party. It has always

been the policy of the Government to endeavour to divide the Rand

community. This is no vague general charge: many instances can be

given extending over a number of years. The accidental revelations in

a police court showed that in 1891 the Government were supporting

from the Secret Service Funds certain individuals with the object of

arranging labour unions to coerce employers upon various points. The

movement was a hopeless failure because the working men declined to

have anything to do with the so-called leaders. When the split took

place in the Chamber of Mines, it became the business of Dr. Leyds

and the President to keep the rift open. This was done persistently

and in a very open manner--the seceders being informed upon several

occasions that a fusion of the two Chambers would not be welcome to

the Government. Both before and since that time the same policy has

found expression in the misleading statement made on behalf of the

Government upon the compound question (namely, that the companies

were aiming at compounding all the natives and monopolizing all

the trade of the Rand), a statement made to divide the mercantile

from the mining community. The fostering of the liquor industry with

its thousands of disreputable hangers-on is another example; the

anti-capitalist campaign carried on by the Government press another.

And the most flagrant of all of course is the incitement to race

hatred. _Divide et impera_, is a principle which they apply with

unfailing regularity whether in their relations with other countries,

in the government of their own State, or in their dealings with

private individuals. Happily for the Rand community the effort to

settle their internal differences was successful; towards the end of

1897 the fusion of the two mining chambers took place, and the

unanimity thus restored has not since been disturbed.

By this time even the most enthusiastic and sanguine friends of the

Government had to some extent realized the meaning of the 'something

for nothing' policy. They began to take count of all that they had

done to please Mr. Kruger, and were endeavouring to find out what

they had got in return. The result, as they were disposed to admit,

was that for all the good it had done them they might as well have

had the satisfaction of speaking their minds frankly as the others

had done. The Raad's treatment of the Industrial Commission report

had estranged all those who had taken part in the deliberations of

the Commission, and as Mr. Kruger had been careful to select only

those whom he believed to be friendly to him he suffered more in the

recoil than he would otherwise have done. He fell into the pit which

he had himself dug.

Mr. Kruger was fast losing his friends, and another affair which

occurred about this time helped to open the eyes of those who still

wished to view him in a favourable light. Mr. Chamberlain in the

course of some remarks had stated that the President had failed to

fulfil the promises which he had made at the time of the Raid. His

Honour took an early opportunity to denounce Mr. Chamberlain to Mr.

J. B. Robinson and the manager of the then Government newspaper in

Pretoria. 'I would like Mr. Chamberlain to quote,' he said, 'any

instances of my failure to keep my promises, and I will know how to

answer him.' The challenge was published and Mr. Chamberlain

promptly cabled instructions to the British Agent to ask President

Kruger whether he had said this and if so whether he really did

desire a statement by Mr. Chamberlain of the character indicated. Mr.

Kruger took his own peculiar way out of the dilemma; he repudiated

the intermediaries, denounced the statement as untrue, and said

that he was not in the habit of conveying his requests through

irresponsible nobodies. The result was the immediate resignation of

the newspaper man and final rupture between the President and Mr.

Robinson. Thus were two more thick-and-thin supporters cast off at

convenience and without an instant's hesitation, and thus were

provided two more witnesses to the 'something for nothing' policy.

This incident was the immediate cause of the fusion of the Chambers.

It had all along been realized that while Lord Rosmead continued to

act as High Commissioner in South Africa there would be no

possibility of the Uitlanders' grievances being again taken up by her

Majesty's Government. The High Commissioner had committed himself to

the opinion that it would be unsuitable and indeed improper to make

any representations on the subject for a considerable time. Moreover,

his age and ill-health rendered him unfit for so arduous a task. Many

hard things have been said and written about the late High

Commissioner, but it must be admitted that with age and infirmity

weighing him down he was confronted by one of the most desperate

emergencies which have ever arisen to try the nerve of a proconsul.

It is true that the responsibilities of Government are not to be met

by excuses: the supports of the Empire must stand the strain or be

condemned. But it is also true that those who regard themselves as

victims may not lightly assume the functions of independent judges:

and thus it was that in a mood of sympathy and regret, with perhaps

some tinge of remorse, the news of Lord Rosmead's death was accepted

as evidence unanswerable of the burden which in the autumn of his

days he was called upon to bear.

When the name of Sir Alfred Milner was mentioned as the coming High

Commissioner all South Africa stood to attention. Seldom surely has a

representative of the Queen been put through such an ordeal of

examination and inquiry as that to which Sir Alfred Milner's record

was subjected by the people of South Africa. Not one man in a

thousand had heard his name before; it was as some one coming out of

the great unknown. The first feeling was that another experiment was

being made at the expense of South Africa; but almost before the

thought had formed itself came the testimony of one and another and

another, representing all parties and all opinions in England; and

the Uitlanders in the Transvaal began to hope and finally to believe

that at last they were to have a man to deal with who would exhibit

those qualities of intelligence, fairness, and firmness, which they

regarded as the essentials. Every word that was said or written about

the new High Commissioner was read and studied in South Africa. Every

reference made to him by the representatives of the various political

parties was weighed and scrutinized, and the verdict was that it was

good! Fair firm and able. There had not been a discordant note nor a

voice lacking in the chorus which greeted the appointment; and the

judgment was, 'They have given one of England's very best.'

The impression had somehow gained ground in South Africa that the

first act of Sir Alfred Milner would be to visit the Transvaal and

endeavour to arrange matters. The hearts of the Uitlanders sank at

the thought of even the ablest and best-intentioned of men tackling

so complicated a problem without any opportunity of studying the

local conditions and the details. It was therefore with undisguised

satisfaction that they received the new High Commissioner's assurance

that as the representative of her Majesty he had plenty of work

before him in visiting and making himself acquainted with the

conditions and requirements of her Majesty's dominions in South

Africa, the people of which had the first call upon his services. The

statement cleared the political atmosphere and had a distinctly

cooling effect upon the overheated brain of the Boer party, who had

by this time convinced themselves that Pretoria was firmly

established as the hub of the universe and that an expectant world

was waiting breathlessly to know what President Kruger would do next.

Mr. Conyngham Greene, an experienced member of the Diplomatic Corps,

who had been appointed towards the end of 1896 to succeed Sir Jacobus

de Wet as British Agent in Pretoria, had by this time gained some

experience of the ways of Pretoria. Probably few servants of the

Crown have been called upon to perform a service more exacting or

less grateful than that which fell to the British Agent during the

period in which Mr. Conyngham Greene has held the post. Conscious

that his Government was prevented by the acts of others from

vindicating its own position, hampered by the knowledge of immense

superiority of strength, dealing with people who advanced at every

turn and under every circumstance their one grievance as a

justification for all the acts of hostility which had preceded that

grievance or had been deliberately perpetrated since, he was

compelled to suffer snubs and annoyances on behalf of his Government,

with no relief but such as he could find in the office of recording

them. A good deal had been done by Mr. Conyngham Greene to establish

visible and tangible evidence of the desire of her Majesty's

Government to interest themselves in the condition of British

subjects and--as far as the exigencies of a very peculiar case would

for the time permit--to protect them from at least the more

outrageous acts of injustice; but the strength of the chain is the

strength of the weakest link, and it was always felt that until the

link in Cape Town was strengthened there was not much reliance to be

placed upon the chain.

Very frequently surprise has been expressed that, after the fortunate

escape from a very bad position which the Jameson Raid afforded to

President Kruger's party, the Boers should not have learned wisdom

and have voluntarily undertaken the task of putting their house in

order. But having in mind the Boer character is it not more natural

to suppose that, inflated and misled by a misconceived sense of

success and strength, they should rather persist in and exaggerate

the ways which they had formerly affected? So at least the Uitlanders

thought and predicted, and their apprehensions were amply justified.

In each successive year the Raad has been relied upon to better its

previous best, to produce something more glaring and sensational in

the way of improper laws and scandalous measures or revelations

than anything which it had before done. One would imagine that it

would pass the wit of man to devise a means of exploiting the

Uitlanders which had not already been tried, but it would truly

appear that the First Volksraad may be confidently relied upon to

do it.

In the year 1897 some things were exposed which appeared, even to the

Uitlanders, absolutely incredible. What is now known as the 'donkeys

and mealies scandal' was one of them. For the ostensible purpose of

helping burghers who had been ruined by the rinderpest the President

arranged for the purchase of large numbers of donkeys to be used

instead of oxen for draught purposes, and he also arranged for the

importation of quantities of mealies to be distributed among those

who were supposed to be starving. Inquiries instituted by order of

the Volksraad revealed the fact that Volksraad members and Government

officials were interested in these contracts. The notorious Mr.

Barend Vorster, who had bribed Volksraad members with gold watches,

money, and spiders, in order to secure the Selati Railway Concession,

and who although denounced as a thief in the Volksraad itself

declined to take action to clear himself and was defended by the

President, again played a prominent part. This gentleman and his

partners contracted with the Government to supply donkeys at a

certain figure apiece, the Government taking all risk of loss from

the date of purchase. The donkeys were purchased in Ireland and in

South America at one-sixth of the contract price. The contractors

alleged that they had not sufficient means of their own and received

an advance equal to three-quarters of the total amount payable to

them; that is to say for every £100 which they had to expend they

received £450 as an unsecured advance against their profits. It is

believed that not 10 per cent. of the animals were ever delivered to

the farmers for whom they were ostensibly bought. An attempt was made

in the Volksraad to have the matter thoroughly investigated and to

have action taken against the contractors, but the affair was hushed

up and, as far as it is possible to ascertain, every penny payable

under the contract has been paid and lost.

In the matter of the mealies (maize, the ordinary native food),

large quantities were bought in South America. It was alleged in

the Volksraad that the amount was far more than was necessary and

that the quality was inferior, the result being that the Government

were swindled and that the State, being obliged to sell what it

did not require, was entering unfairly into competition with the

merchants and producers in the country. But the real character of

this mealie swindle can only be appreciated when it is known how the

contract originated. The contractors having bargained to deliver

donkeys, approached the President with the explanation that donkeys

being live-stock, would have to be accommodated upon an upper deck

where there was ample ventilation; the result of which, they said,

would be that the ship would be top-heavy and would be obliged to

take in ballast. Surely, it was argued, it would be folly to carry

worthless ballast when good mealies, which were in any case badly

needed in the country, would serve the purpose of ballasting equally

well and would, of course, show a very large profit. A contract for

mealies was therefore entered into. When the inquiry was instituted

in the Volksraad certain awkward facts came to light, and it devolved

upon Mr. Barend Vorster to explain how it happened that the mealie

'ballast' arrived and was paid for before the donkeys were shipped.

That worthy gentleman may still be thinking out the explanation, but

as the money has been paid it cannot be a cause of great anxiety.

In order to preserve a true perspective the reader should realize

that the President defended both these affairs and that the exposures

took place while the recommendations of the Industrial Commission

were being discussed in the Raad and fiercely combated by the

President himself.

The matter of the Selati Railway was again brought into prominence in

1897. It is quite impossible as yet to get at all the facts, but it

is very generally believed that a swindle of unusual dimensions and

audacity remains to be exposed, and that a real exposure would

unpleasantly involve some very prominent people. At any rate the

facts which became public in 1898 would warrant that suspicion. The

Selati Railway Company alleged that they had been unjustly deprived

of their rights, and the Government admitting repudiation of

contract took refuge in the plea that in making the contract they

had acted _ultra vires_. It was, in fact, an exemplary case of

'thieves falling out' and when the case got into the law courts a

point of real interest to the public came out; for the Company's

lawyers filed their pleadings! The following account of the case is

taken from the newspapers of the time. The plea of the Selati Railway

Company states that--

the Government was very desirous that the railways should be built,

and that for the purpose the business should be taken in hand by

influential capitalists, and that, having full knowledge of the sums

asked for by the original concessionaires they insisted upon the said

capitalists coming to an agreement with the concessionaires and

paying them the amounts asked; that it was thus understood between

the said capitalists and the Government of the South African Republic

that the sum named in the concession as the price to be paid to the

concessionaires for the formation of the Company was wholly

insufficient under the altered conditions, and that further sums had

to be expended to cover not only the increased amount demanded by the

original concessionaires, but _also other sums of money which were

asked by and paid to different members of the Executive Council and

Volksraad of the South African Republic and their relatives and

friends as the price for granting the concession._

The matter came before the High Court, and several of the exceptions

put forward on behalf of the Government were sustained. Regarding the

accusation mentioned, Mr. Advocate Esselen, who was counsel for the

State, excepted that names and particulars should be inserted, and

also that the State was not bound by the action of the Government or

Executive. He quoted the Volksraad resolution or _besluit_ upon which

the concession was granted, showing that £10,000 was mentioned as the

sum to be received by the concessionaires, and then proceeded:--

'Now, I say that the Government could not contract with the Company

at a higher figure than is above set forth. The measure of authority

granted to the Government is set forth in the Volksraad _besluit_

which I have read, and the Government could not exceed its authority.

Second, the defendant Company makes allegations which are tantamount

to fraudulent dealing on the part of the agents of the State. But it

will be said that it is the State which sues, and that it cannot be

heard to avail itself of the wrongful acts of its agents. In this

matter, however, it is the State Secretary who sues on behalf of the

State. The State is not bound in any event by the acts of individual

members of the Government. It was the Government which was entrusted

with a power of attorney on behalf of the State.'

This doctrine, so fatal to concessionaires and their methods, led to

the following interesting colloquy:--

Mr. Justice JORISSEN: Do you persist in this exception, Mr. Esselen?

Mr. ESSELEN: Certainly I do.

Mr. Justice JORISSEN: You have been very fortunate in succeeding

on two exceptions. Without pressing you in the least, I am inclined

to suggest that you withdraw this exception.

Mr. ESSELEN: I cannot possibly withdraw it, but I am willing to allow

it to stand as a special plea and to argue it at a later stage.

Mr. Justice JORISSEN: As I said, I don't wish to press you, but it

seems to me that this is a very dangerous question.

Mr. ESSELEN: It is a very important question.

Mr. Justice JORISSEN: It is not only an important but a perilous

question.

In an amended plea filed by the Selati Railway Company they give the

names of persons to whom the Company had to pay certain sums of money

or give presents--in other words, bribes--in order to obtain the

Selati contract. The following are the names filed by Baron Eugene

Oppenheim:--To W.E. Bok, then member and minute keeper of the

Executive Council, on August 12, 1890, in cash £50; the late N.J.

Smit, sen., then Vice-president of the South African Republic, and

member of the Executive Council, on August 12, 1890, in cash, £500;

F.C. Eloff, son-in-law of the President and then Private Secretary to

his Honour, on August 12, £50 in cash. By De Jongh and Stegmann, on

behalf of Baron Oppenheim, to C. van Boeschoten, then Secretary of

the Volksraad, on October 6, 1893, in cash, £100. By B.J. Vorster,

jun., one of the concessionaires, on behalf of Eugene Oppenheim, on

or about August, 1890, the following: To Jan du Plessis de Beer,

member of the Volksraad for Waterberg, £100; Schalk W. Burger, member

of the Volksraad for Lydenburg, now member of the Executive Council,

£100; P.L. Bezuidenhout, member of the Volksraad for Potchefstroom,

£100; J. Van der Merwe, member of the Volksraad for Lydenburg, £100;

A.A. Stoop, member of the Volksraad for Wakkerstroom, £50; F.G.H.

Wolmarans, member of the Volksraad for Rustenburg, £50; J.M. Malan,

member of the Volksraad for Rustenburg, Chairman of the first

Volksraad, £50; N.M.S. Prinsloo, member of the Volksraad for

Potchefstroom, £50; J.J. Spies, member of the Volksraad for Utrecht,

£70; B.H. Klopper, Chairman of the Volksraad, £125; C. van

Boeschoten, Secretary of the Volksraad, £180. By J.N. de Jongh, on

behalf of Baron Eugene Oppenheim, about the end of 1892 or the

beginning of 1893, to the late N.J. Smit, sen., then Vice-President

of the South African Republic, and member of the Executive Council,

shares in the defendant Company to the value of £1,000; F.C. Eloff,

son-in-law of and then Private Secretary to the State President,

shares in the defendant Company to the value of £2,000; P.G. Mare,

then member of the Volksraad for Utrecht, now Landdrost of Boksburg,

shares in the defendant Company to the value of £500. By B.J.

Vorster, jun., on behalf of Baron Eugene Oppenheim, about July or

August, 1890, to C.C. van Heerden, member of the Volksraad for

Wakkerstroom, one spider; A.A. Stoop, member of the Volksraad for

Wakkerstroom, one spider; F.G.H. Wolmarans, member of the Volksraad

for Rustenburg, one spider; B.W.J. Steenkamp, member of the Volksraad

for Piet Relief, one spider; J.P.L. Lombard, member of the Volksraad

for Standerton, one spider; H.F. Grobler, member of the Volksraad

for Middelburg, one spider; W.L. de la Rey, member of the Volksraad

for Bloemhof, one spider; D.W. Taljaard, member of the Volksraad for

Standerton, one spider; J.C. van Zyl, member of the Volksraad for

Heidelburg, one spider; J.P. Botha, member of the Volksraad for

Pretoria, one spider; H.P. Beukes, member of the Volksraad for

Marico, one spider; J.F. van Staden, member of the Volksraad for

Vryheid, one spider; J.M. Malan, member of the Volksraad for

Rustenburg, one spider; N.M.S. Prinsloo, member of the Volksraad for

Potchefstroom, one cart; T.C. Greyling, member of the Volksraad for

Heidelberg, one cart. Total value, £1,440.

Twenty-one members of the First Volksraad out of twenty-five!

The Vice-President! The son-in-law and Private Secretary of the

President! The Secretary of the Volksraad and the Minute Keeper

of the Executive!

The Volksraad, one would think, would be bound to take cognizance of

such a statement and to cause an investigation to be held. They did

take cognizance of it after the manner peculiar to them. But the last

thing in the world to be expected from them was an impartial

investigation: nothing so foolish was ever contemplated. There were

too many in it, and an investigation into the conduct of officials

and Raad members would be establishing a most inconvenient precedent.

Some members contented themselves with a simple denial, others

scorned to take notice of such charges, and others tried to explain

them away. No opinion need be expressed upon the methods of the

concessionaires; nor does it matter whether the company, by its

neglect or default, had justified the act of the Government. The

point which is offered for consideration is that the indisputable

fact of bribes having been taken wholesale was ignored, whilst the

disputed question of liability to cancellation was arbitrarily

settled by the Government in its own favour.

The crop of scandals in 1897 was as the rolling snowball. It is

unnecessary to refer to them all in detail. The Union Ground, one of

the public squares of Johannesburg, was granted to a syndicate of

private individuals upon such terms that they were enabled to sell

the right, or portion of it, at once for £25,000 in cash. The

Minister of Mines, in his official capacity, strongly recommended the

transaction, and was afterwards obliged to admit that he himself had

an interest in it. The Volksraad however refused to confirm it, and

the purchaser of the concession fell back upon the President for

protection. The latter advised him to remain quiet until the

presidential election, which was about to take place, should be over,

and gave the assurance that then he would see that the grant was

confirmed by the Raad. In the session of 1898 his Honour strongly

supported the proposal and it was duly carried.

The Eloff location scandal was another which greatly disturbed even

the Volksraad. Mr. Frickie Eloff is President Kruger's son-in-law and

enjoys the unsavoury reputation of being interested in every swindle

which is worth being in the Transvaal. A piece of ground lying to the

north-west of Johannesburg close up to the town had originally been

proclaimed as a goldfield, but no reefs having been found there and

the ground not having been pegged, it was afterwards withdrawn from

proclamation. The Mining Commissioner of Johannesburg in the course

of his duties discovered some flaw in the second or withdrawing

proclamation. He advised the head office in Pretoria of this

discovery and stated that it might be contended that the

de-proclamation was invalid, and that great loss and inconvenience

would follow if the ground were pegged and the title upheld. Within

twenty-four hours the ground was pegged by Mr. Eloff, but it is not

known whence he derived the inspiration. His claim was strongly

opposed by the local officials. They reported that the ground was

known to be of no value, and advised that as the cost of licenses

would be very considerable the obvious policy of the Government would

be--if the title could not be upset--to wait until Mr. Eloff should

tire of paying licenses on valueless ground. The Government, however,

decided otherwise: they converted Mr. Eloff's claims into residential

stands; that is to say, they made him a present of an immensely

valuable piece of property and gave him title under which he could

cut it up into small plots and readily sell it. This action of the

Government, however, required confirmation by the Raad. The matter

came before the Volksraad in due course and that body deliberately

revoked the decision of the Government and refused Mr. Eloff any

title except what he could claim according to law. But Mr. Kruger is

not so easily beaten. He soon discovered that the piece of ground

acquired by Mr. Eloff was exactly the piece which it was necessary

for the Government to have for a coolie location, and without more

ado the Government bought it from Mr. Eloff for £25,000.

The ingenuity of the Boer mind in getting the last possible

fraction of value out of any transaction, is well exemplified in this

matter. One would naturally conclude that a deal so profitable would

satisfy anybody. But not so! The piece of ground commands the

approach to many valuable private plots and residences, and it was

soon found that apart from intrinsic worth it might have a

blackmailing value; thus towards the end of 1898, after the deal had

been completed, the owners of these residences and estates were

privately approached with the information that the coolie location,

consisting of shelters built of scraps of iron, paraffin tins, and

old pieces of wood, was to be removed to this site (probably to

facilitate the transference of the present location site, which is

also very valuable, to some other favourite), but that if sufficient

inducement were offered by landowners in the neighbourhood, the

decision would be reconsidered!

The grant of a Municipality to Johannesburg has often been quoted as

an example of something done by Mr. Kruger in the interests of the

Uitlanders. The principal conditions of that grant are that all

burghers of the State, whether they have property or not, shall be

entitled to vote for the election of councillors; that each ward

shall be represented by two councillors, one of whom must be a

burgher; and that the chairman, or burgomaster, shall be appointed by

Government and shall have the right of veto. The elections in at

least two of the wards are completely at the mercy of the police and

of the poor Boers who have no interest whatever in the town. The

burghers in Johannesburg--police, Boers, and officials--who may

number a couple of thousand, including the naturalized lot, have

therefore a permanent and considerable majority over the Uitlanders,

who probably number over 40,000 adult white males.

The scope and value of this grant were made manifest when the now

notorious sewerage concession came under discussion. The Municipality

had upon several occasions endeavoured to get the right to introduce

a scheme for the disposal of the sewage of the town, and had applied

for authority to raise the necessary funds, but had been refused.

Suddenly a concession was granted by the Government--they called it a

contract--to Mr. Emmanuel Mendelssohn, the proprietor of the

_Standard and Diggers News_, the Government organ in Johannesburg.

He said that he got it for nothing--possibly a reward for loyal

services; but he also stated that he was not the sole owner. The

value of the grant was estimated by the concessionaire himself to be

about £1,000,000 sterling, and in the lately published proposals

which he made to one of the big firms interested in the Transvaal he

indicated how a profit of £100,000 a year could be made out of it.

The Town Council unanimously and vigorously protested; but the

Government took no notice of their protest. They then decided to

apply to the Court for an order restraining the Government from

making this grant, on the ground that they had no power to alienate a

right which belonged to the town itself. In order to make the

application to Court it was necessary, in terms of the constitution

of the municipality, to obtain the signature of the Burgomaster. That

official as representing the Government refused point blank to

authorize the council to dispute the Government's action in a Court

of Law, and the council were obliged to apply for an Order of Court

compelling the Burgomaster to sign the documents necessary to enable

them to contest in the Courts of the country the validity of an act

of the Government which was deemed to be infringement upon the rights

of the town. In the face of this the President capitulated for the

time being; but neither he nor the concessionaire makes any secret of

the determination to find a _quid pro quo_.

The year 1898 brought in its turn its full share of fresh

encroachments and exactions. The bare enumeration of the concessions,

privileges, and contracts, proposed or agreed to, is sufficient to

indicate what must be the condition of mind of one whose interests

are at stake under such a _régime_. Not all 'concessions,'

'contracts,' and 'protected factories' confer exclusive rights, but

many might easily in effect do so and all are infringements upon the

rights of the public. Here are some from the official list of

1899;--Dynamite, Railways, Spirits, Iron, Sugar, Wool, Bricks,

Earthenware, Paper, Candles, Soap, Calcium Carbide, Oil, Matches,

Cocoa, Bottles, Jam, &c.

A large loan had been constantly talked of throughout the year, but

no one knew for what purpose it could be required. The Government

vouchsafed no information at all but negotiations were carried on

both in Pretoria and in Europe. Month after month went by, but the

millions were not forthcoming, and the Government believed or

affected to believe that their failure was due to a conspiracy among

the capitalists, and in retaliation they directed and subsidised a

fierce anti-capitalist campaign in their press. The explanation of

failure, which did not occur to them, may have been that investors

believed that the course pursued by the Transvaal Government must

inevitably lead to conflict with the paramount power, and they had no

faith and no assurance that in the event of such a conflict taking

place the British Government would take over loans which must have

been contracted only for the purposes of war against England.

The juggling with the dynamite question continued throughout the

year. The President had successfully defeated the aim of the

Volksraad, and the investigation and reports which had been ordered

by that body in 1897 to be made by lawyers and auditors, although

duly handed into the Government, were suppressed by the President and

not permitted to be shown to the Raad. On the contrary, the

astounding proposition was made that in return for a very

inconsiderable reduction in the cost of dynamite (half of which was

to be made up by the Government sacrificing its share of profits) and

a possible further reduction of 5s. per case under certain

conditions, the monopoly should be renewed for a period of fifteen

years, all breaches in the past to be condoned, and cancellation on

the ground of breach of contract in the future to be impossible. This

proposal, it was publicly notified, would be laid before the Raad

during the first session of 1899. The existence of the dynamite

monopoly was at this time costing the industry £600,000 a year, and

on every possible occasion it was represented to the Government that,

if they really did need further revenue, in no way could it be more

easily or more properly raised than by exercising their undoubted

right to cancel the monopoly and by imposing a duty of such amount as

might be deemed necessary upon imported dynamite. It was also pointed

out that the proposed reduction in the cost of dynamite would offer

no relief whatever since it was far more than counterbalanced by the

taxes upon mynpachts and profits which were then being imposed.

During this year the Volksraad instructed the Government to

enforce their right to collect 2-1/2 per cent. of the gross

production from mynpachts (mining leases). All mynpachts titles

granted by the Government contained a clause giving the Government

this power, so that they were acting strictly within their legal

rights; but the right had never before been exercised. For twelve

years investors had been allowed to frame their estimates of profit

upon a certain basis, and suddenly without a day's warning this

tax was sprung upon them. It was indisputably the right of the

Government, but equally indisputably was it most unwise; both because

of the manner in which it was done and because there was no necessity

whatever for the doing of it, as the revenue of the country was

already greatly in excess of the legitimate requirements. Immediately

following this came a resolution to impose a tax of 5 per cent. upon

the profits of all companies working mining ground other than that

covered by mynpacht. The same objections applied to this tax with the

additional one, that no clause existed in the titles indicating that

it could be done and no warning had ever been given that it would be

done. The proposal was introduced one morning and adopted at once;

the first notice to investors was the accomplished fact. These

measures were particularly keenly resented in France and Germany.

The grievance of hasty legislation was in these cases aggravated by

the evidence that the taxes were quite unnecessary. President Kruger

still fought against cancellation of the Dynamite Monopoly, by which

the State revenue would have benefited to the extent of £600,000 a

year, if he had accepted the proposal of the Uitlanders, to allow

importation of dynamite subject to a duty of £2 per case--a tax

which represented the monopolists' profit, and would not therefore

have increased the cost of the article to the mines. He still

persisted in squandering and misapplying the public funds. He

still openly followed the policy of satisfying his burghers at the

Uitlanders' expense; but the burghers have a growing appetite, and

nothing shows the headlong policy of 'squaring'--nothing better

illustrates the Uitlanders' grievance of reckless extravagance in

administration--than the list of fixed salaries as it has grown year

by year since the goldfields became a factor.

TRANSVAAL FIXED SALARIES.

£ s. d.

1886 51,831 3 7

1887 99,083 12 8

1888 164,466 4 10

1889 249,641 10 10

1890 324,520 8 10

1891 332,888 13 9

1892 323,608 0 0

1893 361,275 6 11

1894 419,775 13 10

1895 570,047 12 7

1896 813,029 7 5

1897 996,959 19 11

1898 1,080,382 3 0

1899 (Budget) 1,216,394 5 0

That is to say, the Salary List is now twenty-four times as great as

it was when the Uitlanders began to come in in numbers. It amounts to

nearly five times as much as the total revenue amounted to then. It

is now sufficient if equally distributed to pay £40 per head per

annum to the total male Boer population.

The liquor curse has grown to such dimensions and the illicit liquor

organization has secured such a firm hold that even the stoutest

champions of law and order doubt at times whether it will ever be

possible to combat the evil. The facts of the case reflect more

unfavourably upon the President than perhaps any other single thing.

These are the facts: The law prohibits the sale of liquor to natives;

yet from a fifth to a third of the natives on the Rand are habitually

drunk. The fault rests with a corrupt and incompetent administration.

That administration is in the hands of the President's relations and

personal following. The remedy urged by the State Secretary, State

Attorney, some members of the Executive, the general public, and the

united petition of all the ministers of religion in the country, is

to entrust the administration to the State Attorney's department and

to maintain the existing law. In the face of this President Kruger

has fought hard to have the total prohibition law abolished and has

successfully maintained his nepotism--to apply no worse construction!

In replying to a deputation of liquor dealers he denounced the

existing law as an 'immoral' one, because by restricting the

sale of liquor it deprived a number of honest people of their

livelihood--and President Kruger is a total abstainer!

The effect of this liquor trade is indescribable; the loss in money

although enormous is a minor consideration compared with the crimes

committed and the accidents in the mines traceable to it; and the

effect upon the native character is simply appalling.

Much could be said about this native question apart from the subject

of drink, for it is one which is very difficult of just appreciation

by any but those who have had considerable experience of and personal

contact with the natives. It is one upon which there is a great

divergence of views between the people of Europe and the people of

South Africa. South Africans believe that they view it from the

rational standpoint, they believe also that Europeans as a rule view

it more from the sentimental. The people who form their opinions from

the writings and reports of missionaries only, or who have in their

mind's eye the picturesque savage in his war apparel as seen at

Earl's Court, or the idealized native of the novelist, cannot

possibly understand the real native. The writer holds South African

views upon the native question, that is to say that the natives are

to all intents and purposes a race of children, and should be treated

as such, with strict justice and absolute fidelity to promise,

whether it be of punishment or reward: a simple consistent policy

which the native mind can grasp and will consequently respect.

With this in mind it will, perhaps, be believed that the recital of

certain instances of injustice is not made with the object of

appealing to sentimentalism, or of obliquely influencing opinions

which might otherwise be unfavourable or indifferent. The cases

quoted in this volume are those which have been decided by the

courts, or the evidence in support of them is given, and they are

presented because they are typical cases, and not, except in the

matter of public exposure, isolated ones. The report of the case of

Toeremetsjani, the native chieftainess,{48} is taken verbatim from

one of the newspapers of the time. The woman is the head of the

Secocoeni tribe, whose successful resistance to the Transvaal

Government was one of the alleged causes of the annexation. A good

deal could be said about the ways of Native Commissioners in such

matters. Much also could be said about the case of the British

Indians and the effect upon the population of India which is produced

by the coming and going of thousands of these annually between India

and the Transvaal, and their recital of the treatment to which

they are subjected, their tales of appeals to the great British

Government, and their account of the latter's inability to protect

them. Much also could be said of the Cape Boy question, but

sufficient prominence has been given to these matters by the

publication of the official documents and the report of the inquiry

into Field-Cornet Lombaard's conduct, which was held at the instance

of the British Government.

It is not suggested that if the Government in the Transvaal were

influenced by the vote of the white British subjects, or if it were

entirely dominated by such vote, any encouragement would be given to

the Indian hawkers and traders, or that there would be any

disposition whatever to give voting rights to coloured people of any

kind, but it _is_ suggested that a more enlightened and a more just

system of treatment would be adopted; and in any case it is to be

presumed that there would be no appeals to the British Government,

involving exhibitions of impotency on the part of the Empire to

protect its subjects, followed by the deliberate repetition of

treatment which might become the subject of remonstrance. The

untutored mind is not given to subtleties and sophistries; direct

cause and effect are as much as it can grasp. These it does grasp and

firmly hold, and the simple inferences are not to be removed by any

amount of argument or explanation, however plausible. There is

scarcely an Uitlander in the Transvaal who would not view with dismay

the raising of the big question upon such grounds as the treatment of

the natives, the Cape boys, or the Indians; and the fact that the

Transvaal Government know this may account for much of the

provocation on these questions. It is nevertheless undeniable that

white British subjects in the Transvaal do suffer fresh humiliation

and are substantially lowered in the eyes of the coloured races,

because appeals are made on their behalf to the British Government,

and those appeals are useless. The condition of affairs should be

that such appeals would be unnecessary, and would therefore

become--in practice--impossible. Such a condition of affairs would

obtain under a friendly and more enlightened government, and the

only security for the voluntary continuance of such conditions is

the enfranchisement of the Uitlander population.

In the midst of all that was gloomy unfavourable and unpromising

there came to the Uitlanders one bright ray of sunshine. Dr. Leyds

who had been re-elected State Secretary on the understanding that he

would resign immediately in order to take up the post of

plenipotentiary in Europe, and whom the Boers with a growing

anti-Hollander and pro-Afrikander feeling would no longer tolerate,

relinquished his office. In his stead was appointed Mr. F.W. Reitz

formerly President of the Free State, a kindly, honourable, and

cultured gentleman, whose individual sympathies were naturally and

strongly progressive but who, unfortunately, has not proved himself

to be sufficiently strong to cope with President Kruger or to rise

above division upon race lines in critical times. Shortly afterwards

Mr. Christiaan Joubert, the Minister of Mines, a man totally unfit

from any point of view to hold any office of responsibility or

dignity, was compelled by resolution of the Second Volksraad to hand

in his resignation. His place was filled by a Hollander official in

the Mining Department who commanded and still commands the confidence

and respect of all parties. The elevation of the Acting State

Attorney to the Bench left yet another highly responsible post open

and the Government choice fell upon Mr. J.C. Smuts, an able and

conscientious young barrister, and an earnest worker for reform. An

Afrikander by birth and educated in the Cape Colony, he had taken his

higher degrees with great distinction at Cambridge and had been

called to the English Bar.

But there came at the same time another appointment which was not so

favourably viewed. There was still another vacancy on the Bench, and

it became known that, in accordance with the recommendation expressed

by the Raad that all appointments should whenever possible be first

offered to sons of the soil, _i.e._, born Transvaalers, it was

intended to appoint to this judgeship a young man of twenty-four

years of age lately called to the bar, the son of the Executive

Member Kock already referred to in this volume. The strongest

objection was made to this proposal by all parties, including the

friends of the Government; the most prominent of all objectors were

some of the leading members of the bar who, it was believed, carried

influence and were in sympathy with the Government. A delay took

place and it was at one time believed that President Kruger had

abandoned his intention, but it is understood that pressure was

brought to bear upon the President by a considerable party of his

followers, and in the course of a few days the appointment was duly

gazetted.

The selection of educated and intelligent Afrikanders, sincerely

desirous of purifying the administration, for such responsible

offices as those of State Secretary and State Attorney, was

gratefully welcomed by the Uitlander community, who believed that

only through the influence of such men consistently and determinedly

exerted could a peaceful solution of many difficult questions be

found. It is but bare justice to these gentlemen to state that never

were they found wanting in good intention or honest endeavour, ready

at all times to inquire into subjects of complaint, anxious at all

times to redress any legitimate grievances. To them and to many other

less prominent but no less worthy officials of the Transvaal Civil

Service, whom it is impossible to name and to whom it might prove to

be no good turn if they were named, is due an expression of regret

that they may perhaps suffer by references which are not directed

against them but which are justified by a rotten system and are

called for by the action of others over whom these men have no

control. Nobody but one intimately concerned in Transvaal affairs can

appreciate the unpleasant and undeserved lot of the honest official

who necessarily, but most unjustly, suffers by association with those

who deserve all that can be said against them.

It is very well known that the gentlemen above referred to would, if

it were in their power, readily accord the terms asked for in the

franchise memorandum recently submitted by the Uitlanders, but they

are unfortunately entirely without influence over the President and

his party. It is true that--although British subjects by

birth--they have chosen to associate themselves with the Transvaal

Government and are now uncompromising republicans; but there is no

fault to be found with that. It may be true also that they aspire to

republicanize the whole of South Africa, and free it of the Imperial

influence; that would be a cause of enmity as between them and those

who desire to preserve the Imperial connection, but it is no ground

for reproach. There is one point, however, upon which they in common

with nearly all the enlightened Afrikanders throughout South Africa

may be adjudged to have fallen short in their duty; it is this, that

whilst nine times out of ten they divide upon sound principles, they

will not follow that policy to a conclusion; for upon the tenth

occasion they will subordinate principle and, at the call of one who

may use it unscrupulously, will rally upon race lines alone. It is

only too true of only too many that they cannot be got to see that if

they would really divide upon principles all danger of conflict would

disappear and the solution would be both speedy and peaceful; for it

is the division upon race lines that alone raises the distracting

prospect of war.

For those who are in this position in the Transvaal it may be allowed

that their difficulties are great. They cannot, it is true, complain

of lack of warning. They did not, it is also true, after trying their

influence and finding it of no avail, cut adrift when they might have

done so, and by their example have so stripped the reactionaries of

all support that there could now be no question of their standing

out; but they may have honestly believed that they would in time

succeed, whilst the Uitlanders, judging from a long and bitter

experience, felt that they would not and could not. They may say that

this is no time to part from those with whom they associated

themselves in times of peace. Such reasoning may provide an excuse in

the Transvaal, but no such plea will avail for those without the

Transvaal who have let the day of opportunity go past, and who cry

out their frightened protest now that the night of disaster is upon

us.

Footnotes for Chapter X

{42} That President Kruger always contemplated controlling the

Uitlander population by arbitrary methods was proved by the choice of

the site for the Johannesburg fort. This site, on a hill commanding

the town, had been reserved by Government from the commencement, and

when the accommodation in the old gaol proved insufficient and a new

gaol was required it was located on this spot, then a favourite

residential quarter of the town. A deputation of officials waited

upon the President to urge the placing of the new gaol in a more

convenient locality elsewhere. His Honour replied, 'that he did not

care about the convenience. He was going to build the gaol there,

because some day the town would be troublesome and he would want to

convert the gaol into a fort and put guns there before that time

came.' That was at least four years before the Raid.

{43} The writer has since learned from Mr.

Alfred Beit that the same proposal was made to him by Mr. Graaff in

January, 1896, immediately after the Raid, and that it was baited

with the promise that if he and Mr. Rhodes would agree to support it

the threatened 'consequences' of their association with the Raid

would be averted. But they preferred the 'consequences.'

{44} About the middle of 1895 a bad explosion of dynamite occurred

in Germany under circumstances very similar to those of the

Johannesburg accident. An inquiry held by the German authorities

resulted in the finding that the explosion must have been due to

some fault in the dynamite, and an order was issued to destroy the

remainder. The officials charged with this duty found, however, that

the owners, anticipating some such result, had removed it. It was

eventually traced as having been shipped from Antwerp to Port

Elizabeth and thence consigned to the Transvaal in November, 1895.

The Johannesburg explosion occurred in February, 1896. No competent

or independent inquiry was held, although about 100 people were

killed and many more injured.

{45} The gaoler--Du Plessis--in the fulfilment of his promise lost

no opportunity to harass them into submission, by depriving them of

one thing after another, knowing that they would ask for nothing

except as a right. As an instance, the spirit-lamp with which

they made their tea was taken from them on the pretext that no

combustibles were allowed under the prison regulations, and upon a

remonstrance being made by Mr. Conyngham Greene to Dr. Leyds the

latter replied that it was necessary on account of the risk of fire.

For about eight months, therefore, water was to be--and of course

was--their only drink. Only once during the thirteen months did Du

Plessis appear to 'get home.' It was when he proposed that the two

should be separated and sent to out-of-the-way gaols, widely apart

and distant from all friends. Without doubt the conditions told

seriously upon their health, but as both men were endowed with

exceptional physique and any amount of grit they were still able to

take it smiling.

{46} It is described as the Witfontein case. See page 100.

{47} When the case came up again in due course a decision was given

by Mr. Gregorowski, the new Chief Justice, which was regarded by the

plaintiff's advisers as a reversal of the first judgment, and the

practical effect of which was to bring the case under the operations

of Law 1 of 1897--that is to say, to put the plaintiff 'out of court.'

Mr. Brown has appealed to the United States Government for redress.

{48} See Appendix K.

CHAPTER XI.

THE BEGINNING OF THE END.

So the year dragged on with its one little glimmer of light and its

big black clouds of disappointment, and it was Christmas-time when

the spark came to the waiting tinder. What a bloody bill could the

holidays and holy days of the world tot up! On the Sunday night

before Christmas a British subject named Tom Jackson Edgar was shot

dead in his own house by a Boer policeman. Edgar, who was a man of

singularly fine physique and both able and accustomed to take care of

himself, was returning home at about midnight when one of three men

standing by, who as it afterwards transpired was both ill and

intoxicated, made an offensive remark. Edgar resented it with a blow

which dropped the other insensible to the ground. The man's friends

called for the police and Edgar, meanwhile, entered his own house a

few yards off. There was no attempt at concealment or escape; Edgar

was an old resident and perfectly well known. Four policemen came,

who in any circumstances were surely sufficient to capture him.

Moreover, if that had been considered difficult, other assistance

could have been obtained and the house from which there could have

been no escape might have been watched. In any case Edgar was

admitted by the police to have sat on the bed talking to his wife,

and to have been thus watched by them through the window. It is not

stated that they called upon him to come out or surrender himself,

but they proceeded immediately to burst in his door. Hearing the

noise he came out into the passage. He may or may not have known that

they were police: he may or may not have believed them to be the

three men by one of whom he had been insulted. There is not a word of

truth in the statement since made that Edgar had been drinking. It

was not alleged even in defence of the police, and the post-mortem

examination showed that it was not so. A Boer policeman named

Jones (There are scores of Boers unable to speak a word of

English, who nevertheless own very characteristic English, Scotch,

and Irish names--many of them being children of deserters from the

British army!) revolver in hand burst the door open. It is alleged

by the prisoner and one of the police that as the door was burst

open, Edgar from the passage struck the constable on the head

twice with an iron-shod stick which was afterwards produced

in Court. On the other hand Mrs. Edgar and other independent

witnesses--spectators--testified that Edgar did not strike a blow

at all and could not possibly have done so in the time. The fact,

however, upon which all witnesses agree is that as the police

burst open the door Constable Jones fired at Edgar and dropped him

dead in the arms of his wife, who was standing in the passage a

foot or so behind him. On the following morning, the policeman was

formally arrested on the charge of manslaughter and immediately

released upon his comrades' sureties of £200.

As gunpowder answers to the spark so the indignation of the Uitlander

community broke out. The State Attorney to whom the facts were

represented by the British Agent in Pretoria immediately ordered the

re-arrest of the policeman on the charge of murder. The feeling of

indignation was such among British subjects generally, but more

especially among Edgar's fellow-workmen, that it was decided to

present a petition to her Majesty praying for protection. British

subjects were invited to gather in the Market Square in order to

proceed in a body to the office of the British Vice-Consul and there

present the petition, but in order to avoid any breach of the Public

Meetings Act they were requested to avoid speech making and to

refrain in every way from any provocation to disorder. Some four or

five thousand persons gathered together. They listened to the reading

of the petition and marched in an orderly manner to the office of

the British Vice-Consul where the petition was read and accepted.

This was the first direct appeal to her Majesty made by British

subjects since the protests against the retrocession eighteen years

before. Not very many realized at the time the importance of the

change in procedure. There could be no "As you were" after the direct

appeal: either it would be accepted, in which event the case of the

Uitlanders would be in the hands of an advocate more powerful than

they had ever proved themselves to be, or it would be declined, a

course which would have been regarded as sounding the death-knell of

the Empire in South Africa. The time was one of the most intense

anxiety; for the future of the Uitlanders hung upon the turn of the

scale.

It was late one night when those who had been called to Pretoria to

receive the reply of her Majesty's Government returned to the Rand.

The real reply then was known only to three men; it was simply, point

blank refusal to accept the petition. There were no reasons and no

explanations. It was done on the authority of Sir William Butler, the

Commander-in-Chief in South Africa and acting High Commissioner; for

Sir Alfred Milner was at that time in England, as also was Mr.

Conyngham Greene. But the faith was in these men that it could not be

true, that it could not have happened had Sir Alfred Milner not been

absent, and thus came the suggestion to 'explain it away.' On the

following day British subjects on the Rand learned that a breach of

diplomatic etiquette had been committed, that the petition should

never have been published before being formally presented to her

Majesty, and that thus it would be necessary to prepare and present

another in proper form. The petition was redrawn and in the course of

the following weeks upwards of 21,000 signatures were obtained by

that loyal and enthusiastic little band of British subjects who form

the Johannesburg branch of the South African League.

In the meantime other things had been happening. Messrs. Thomas R.

Dodd and Clement Davies Webb had been arrested under the Public

Meetings Act for having organized an illegal meeting in the Market

Square, Johannesburg, for the purpose of presenting the petition to

the British Vice-Consul. They were released upon bail of £1,000

each. Whether this was a fair example of the judicial perspective in

the Transvaal, or whether it was a concession to the feelings of the

Boers it is impossible to say, nor does it much matter. The fact is

that for the crime of killing a British subject the bail was £200;

and for the crime of objecting to it the bail was £1,000. This action

only added fuel to the fire and a public meeting was immediately

convened to be held in a circus building known as the Amphitheatre.

Meetings are permitted under the Act provided they are held in an

enclosed building. The object of the meeting was to record a protest

against the arrest of Messrs. Dodd and Webb. A great many of the more

ardent among the British subjects were of opinion that the time for

protests and petitions was past, and they would not attend the

meeting. A great many others feeling that it was more or less a

formality leading to nothing else, did not trouble to attend. Not one

of those who did attend had the least suspicion of any organized

opposition. The following dispatch from the High Commissioner to the

Secretary of State for the Colonies sufficiently describes the

sequel:--

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, CAPE TOWN,

_April 5, 1899_.

SIR,--I have the honour to forward herewith the certified and

attested copies of affidavits which form an enclosure to Mr. Wyberg's

letter, transmitted to you in my dispatch of the 28th March, but

which did not reach me in time to catch the last mail steamer.

From these affidavits, the number of which and the manner in which

they confirm one another seem to me to leave no doubt of their

general trustworthiness, it appears:

1. That early on the morning of Saturday, the 14th January, the

foremen in charge of the various camps along the Main Reef Road were

instructed to tell a certain number of their workmen to be at the

Amphitheatre in Johannesburg at 2 p.m., where they would be addressed

by an official of the Public Works Department, Mr. P.J. Malan (Hoofd

van Afdeeling Wegen).

2. That the affair had been planned beforehand, and that Acting Road

Inspector Papenfus and others systematically visited the various

camps on that morning in order to beat up recruits, and that inquiry

was made in some cases to ensure that the persons sent should be

'treu,' _i.e._, Boer or Afrikander workmen who might be expected to

take the side of the Government. The Russian workmen were not asked

to go.

3. That the men were paid two hours earlier than usual, and that

those men who were ordered to go were told, if they could not get

Government carts, they should hire and recover afterwards.

4. That in some cases, as that of the Boksburg section, the men were

conveyed the greater part of the way by Government carts.

5. That when the men arrived at the Amphitheatre, about 2 p.m., a man

who was either Mr. Bosman, Second Landdrost's Clerk, or Mr. Boshof,

Registrar of the Second Criminal Court, and perhaps both of them,

told them to go to the Police Station.

6. That on arriving at the Police Station, they were addressed by Mr.

Broeksma, Third Public Prosecutor, and told they were there to break

up the meeting when he gave them certain signals.

7. That they then went into the Amphitheatre, and that there were

present, besides Mr. Broeksma, Mr. Papenfus, Mr. Jacobs, Special Road

Inspector, Mr. de Villiers, Second Public Prosecutor, and Mr.

Burgers, also an official, as well as several prominent members of

the Town and Special Police in plain clothes.

8. That the different sections of the Road party men were placed in

various parts of the building, under their respective foremen, and

that several Government officials assisted in locating them.

9. That a number of the men did not understand what they were there

for.

10. That the proceedings on the part of the promoters of the meeting,

which, as you are aware, had been sanctioned by the Government, were

perfectly regular.

11. That on the first appearance of the promoters of the meeting

there was a concerted disturbance, which rendered it totally

impossible to go on with the proceedings.

12. That in the riot which followed several people were seriously

injured, the sufferers in every case being _bonâ fide_ sympathizers

with the object of the meeting, and the aggressors being persons who

had come there with the object of breaking it up.

13. That the Police did not make the smallest effort to check the

disturbances though it would have been easy to do so, and that, when

appealed to, they maintained an attitude of indifference.

14. That Broeksma, Third Public Prosecutor, and Lieutenant Murphy, of

the Morality Police, actually assisted in breaking chairs, and

encouraged the rioters.

I have, &c.,

A. MILNER,

_Governor and High Commissioner._

With affairs of this kind stirring up race hatred and feeling among

the class from whom the juries have to be selected, what chance was

there of securing an impartial trial of the policeman charged with

the murder of Edgar? The Acting British Agent Mr. Edmund Fraser in

his dispatch of December 23 tells what he thought of the prospect

before these affairs took place. 'As to the ultimate charge to be

brought against the policeman, the State Attorney was doubtful

whether the charge had not better be one of culpable homicide, for

the reason that in the presence of a Boer jury his counsel would have

a much easier task in getting him off under a charge of murder than

for culpable homicide. But the chances of a Boer jury convicting

him at all are so small that I said I should not assent to either

charge until I had seen what rebutting evidence the Public Prosecutor

brought.'

But this was not all. Immediately after the murder of Edgar, Mr. J.S.

Dunn the editor of the _Critic_ newspaper, recited the facts of the

case as they were known to him and passed some severe strictures upon

Dr. Krause, the First Public Prosecutor, who was responsible for

determining the charge against policeman Jones and fixing his bail in

the first instance. The steps now taken by Dr. Krause no doubt were

within his legal rights, but they do not appear to a layman

calculated to ensure justice being done. Before proceeding with the

murder trial Dr. Krause took criminal action against Mr. Dunn for

libel, and in order to prove the libel he, whose duty it was to

prosecute Jones for murder, entered the witness-box and swore that

under the circumstances as known to him he did not consider that

Jones had been guilty of murder, and had therefore faithfully

performed his duty in charging him with the minor offence and

releasing him on bail. Further, he called upon the Second Public

Prosecutor to testify in a similar strain; and finally he directly

and deliberately associated with himself as witness on his side the

man Jones himself who was charged with the murder. All this

ostensibly to prove a paltry libel which could have been dealt with

quite as effectively and infinitely more properly after the trial for

murder had taken place; indeed it is incontestable that the verdict

in the murder trial should properly have been relied upon to a large

extent to determine the gravity of Mr. Dunn's offence. It had

appeared to the British population that the chance of an impartial

trial, with the jury drawn exclusively from the burgher class, was

sufficiently remote without any proceedings so ill considered as

these. The result fulfilled anticipations. In due course the

constable Jones was indicted for culpable homicide and acquitted; and

the presiding judge (Mr. Kock, who as already described had claimed a

judgeship as a 'son of the soil') when discharging the prisoner said,

'With that verdict I concur and I hope that the police under

difficult circumstances will always know how to do their duty.'

After the preliminary examination of Jones the Acting British Agent

had written to the Acting High Commissioner (December 30, 1898): 'I

will only remark that the enclosed report ... seems to show that the

Public Prosecutor (Krause), who has been deeply offended by the slur

cast upon his judgment through the orders from Pretoria to keep the

accused in prison instead of out on bail, was more inclined to defend

than to prosecute and showed an extraordinary desire to incriminate

either the British Vice-Consul or the South African League for what

he termed contempt of court in connection with the publication of

certain affidavits in the _Star_.'

That was indeed the position. In this as in the Cape Boys case (the

Lombaard inquiry) the aim of the prosecution appeared to be to prove

that the British Vice-Consul had investigated and reported cases of

injustice suffered by British subjects; and the establishment of such

proof seemed to be considered a sufficient and triumphant answer to

the original complaint. Such action drew the following spirited

protest from Mr. Emrys Evans to the British Agent: 'He (Krause) seems

generally to suppose that I have no right to do anything in the way

of assisting British subjects, and that my action as Vice-Consul is

nothing more nor less than officious meddling.' That well describes

the position of Great Britain's representative in the Transvaal, and

it has been the same for so many years that among the Uitlanders it

creates no feeling of surprise; but imagine the representative

of--let us say--the United States being so treated!

While these matters were proceeding an opportunity occurred to raise

fresh funds for the Uitlander Education Council. The scheme had been

perilously near collapse on several occasions, but by a little

generous and timely help actual abandonment had been averted. The

possibility of a return of better times had been foreseen by some of

those interested in education, and the appeals which were made in the

months of February and March resulted in raising a fund of over

£100,000. The companies were also applied to for assistance in the

form of annual grants for maintenance; and guarantees were given

amounting in all to about £16,000 a year. A final effort was made by

the Government party and the allies of Dr. Mansvelt, the

Superintendent of Education, to show that the Government had made

ample provision for the education of English-speaking children, and

that the Uitlanders' scheme was unnecessary. Even Mr. Reitz, the

State Secretary, it is to be regretted, undertook a public defence of

the system which he has frequently expressed his disapproval of; but

the more favourable construction which he endeavoured to place upon

the law was immediately removed by a plain statement from the

President to the exact contrary effect.

The Uitlanders consider that, if the intentions of the Government

were as good as they desire them to be thought, firstly, they should

not object to have the conditions permanently established and not

leave them liable to alteration at the sweet will of the

Superintendent, as they are to-day; and secondly, as there has been

nothing to hinder the carrying out of benevolent intentions--had they

existed--there is no reason why there should be five or six thousand

Uitlander children without any facilities for education in their own

language except such as are provided by private enterprise or

charity. And this is so; notwithstanding the expenditure by the State

of nearly a quarter of a million per annum, ostensibly upon

education, nine-tenths of which sum is contributed by the Uitlander

population.

The spirit in which the State aid is given and the aim which the

Government have in view are entirely revealed in the conditions, a

brief reference to which will be sufficient.

The Government capitation grant of £4 per annum may be earned on the

conditions:--

(a) That the child be over six years of age.

(b) That it shall have a sufficient knowledge of the Dutch language

and South African history.

(c) That it be not the child of Dutch or Hollander parents.

(d) That a qualified Dutch teacher must be retained by the school.

The first condition excludes all the children of the kindergarten

schools, and also a class who form a considerable percentage in the

elementary schools. The third condition excludes all those who have

in early years any chance of satisfying the inspectors under the

second condition. Obviously the amount earned by the few who would

satisfy all the conditions could not possibly pay for the salary of

a Dutch teacher. It was an actual experience in several schools that

the acceptance of State aid involved a direct loss; a good example of

the 'something for nothing' policy.

English is permitted to be the medium of instruction in Government

schools on the conditions, among others--

That Dutch be taught for one hour a day during the first year, two

hours a day during the second year, three hours a day during the

third year; and that in the fourth year Dutch shall become the sole

medium of instruction.

The characteristic trickery and cunning which mark so many of the

Boer-Hollander enactments are again apparent here. The proposal is

made to appear reasonable, but it is clearly impossible for a child

to attain within the time named such proficiency in a foreign

language as to be able to receive all instruction in it. The effect

and the design are to place English-speaking children at a grave

disadvantage compared with Dutch-speaking children; either they would

have to devote a great deal more time to the study of Dutch in the

first three years so as to be able to receive all instruction in that

tongue, or they would suffer in the higher standards through their

imperfect knowledge of the medium of instruction. It was not to be

supposed that the Uitlanders, after an experience extending over a

decade and a half of all sorts of promises, not one of which had been

kept in the spirit in which it was intended to be construed, would

consent to abandon their scheme at the behest of Dr. Mansvelt and the

misguided few who judged his proposals by appearances. President

Kruger speaking at Rustenburg as lately as March last laid particular

emphasis upon the stipulation in the Law that in the fourth year

Dutch should be the sole medium of instruction, and explained that

his determination was to make Dutch the dominant language.

In the month of February the Transvaal Government received a dispatch

from her Majesty's Government with reference to the dynamite

concession. It referred to the announcement already recorded, that in

the course of the coming session of the Raad a proposal would be

submitted for the extension of the monopoly for fifteen years.

Mr. Chamberlain pointed out that her Majesty's Government were

advised that the dynamite monopoly in its present form constitutes a

breach of the Convention; he expressed the hope that the Transvaal

Government might see its way voluntarily either to cancel the

monopoly or to so amend it as to make it in the true sense a State

monopoly operating for the benefit of the State; and he suggested

that in any case no attempt should be made to extend the present

concession, as such a proposal would compel her Majesty's Government

to take steps which they had hitherto abstained from taking in the

hope and belief that the Transvaal Government would itself deal

satisfactorily with the matter. It was with this despatch, so to say

in his pocket, that the President introduced and endeavoured to force

through the Raad the proposal to grant a fifteen years' extension of

the monopoly.

That representations had been made by the British Government on the

subject of the dynamite monopoly, had been known for some time before

the Peace Negotiations (as they have been called) between the

Government and the Capitalists were proposed. On February 27{49} Mr.

Edouard Lippert, the original dynamite concessionaire, who it was

known would receive the further sum of £150,000 if the monopoly

remained uncancelled for five years, opened negotiations on behalf of

the Government with certain representatives of the capitalist groups

on the Rand; and it was immediately seen that the main--one might

almost say sole--object of the negotiations was to safeguard the

dynamite monopoly. The Government had, in fact, been placed in a very

awkward position. One of the excuses for not expropriating the

monopoly had been that the State had not been successful in raising a

loan. In order to deal with this objection the Chamber of Mines had,

in the month of February, 1899, made an offer, guaranteed by all the

principal firms on the Rand, to provide the sum of £600,000 to

compensate the monopolists for their actual expenditure up to date

upon buildings, plant, machinery, &c., so that there should be no

semblance of injustice in the treatment meted out to them. The

conditions of the offer were that the dynamite monopoly should be

cancelled and importation of explosives permitted under an import

duty which would give the State a very large revenue at once and

which in the course of a few years would provide a sinking fund

sufficient to extinguish the loan of £600,000. The offer was so

favourable to the State that it placed the Government in a

quandary.{50} The attitude of the Volksraad, too, was distinctly

hostile to the dynamite monopoly; and on top of all came the

representations of the Imperial Government upon the subject. It

became necessary to do something to save the threatened

'cornerstone'; hence the Peace negotiations between the Government

and the capitalists.

This was another and one of the clearest examples of the 'something

for nothing' policy, for it will be observed that of all the things

mentioned dynamite alone was the matter to be definitely settled--and

that to the satisfaction of Mr. Kruger. Long years of experience

had taught the Uitlanders to examine any proposals coming from the

Government with the utmost care; and the representatives of the

mining industry were soon of one mind in regarding these negotiations

as nothing but a trap.

Of the five men who represented the Government, viz., the President,

the State Secretary (Mr. Reitz), the State Attorney (Mr. Smuts), the

Foreign Plenipotentiary (Dr. Leyds), and the 'disinterested

intermediary,' Mr. Lippert, it was easy enough to account for three.

The President had frequently pledged himself to maintain the

monopoly, and always referred to it as the corner-stone of the

independence. Dr. Leyds had chosen to associate himself with the

defence of the concessionaires upon all occasions, and had even gone

so far, as evidence given at the Industrial Commission showed, as to

misrepresent the facts in their defence. The difficulty was how to

explain the association of the State Attorney and State Secretary, in

whose good intentions and integrity there was a general belief. The

solution was to be found in the illusory promises of reform under the

heading of franchise and reorganization of the finances and other

matters. These proposals, it was believed by Mr. Kruger and his

party, would secure the support of the two above-named officials, as

well as entice the capitalists into the trap set for them. But there

were other points of advantage for Mr. Kruger. The whole scheme was

in accordance with the _divide et impera_ policy. The first

impression, if the scheme were accepted, would be that the

capitalists had secured something for themselves by bartering away

the rights of the public; so there would have been a division in

Johannesburg. Another effect to be brought about by the proposed

action regarding the Indians would have been to divide the Uitlanders

from the Imperial Government, and the net result of it all would have

been that neither the public nor the capitalists would have got

anything but illusory promises and Mr. Kruger would have secured his

dynamite; for had he been able to extract from the Industry an

expression of approval or acquiescence, it would have given him his

majority in the Volksraad in favour of the monopoly.

The following is the correspondence which passed:--

JOHANNESBURG, S.A.R.,

_27th March, 1899._

_To the Honourable the State Secretary, Pretoria._

HONOURABLE SIR,

Before communicating to you and the representatives of the Government

whom we met the expression of our opinion and that of our London

friends on the proposals submitted to us by Mr. Lippert on behalf of

the Government of the S.A.R., we deem it advisable to recite shortly

how we have arrived at the present position.

On the 27th of February Mr. E. Lippert called together Messrs. A.

Brakhan, E. Birkenruth, and G. Rouliot, to whom he submitted a

certain programme concerning the settlement of some pending questions

forming the subject of grave differences between the Government of

the S.A.R., on the one part, and the whole Uitlander population and

the mining industry on the other part, with a view to ascertain

whether these gentlemen were willing to open negotiations on the

basis suggested, in order to try to come to a settlement. Upon the

affirmative answer of these gentlemen, Mr. Lippert obtained an equal

expression of approval from Dr. Leyds, the State Secretary, the State

Attorney, and also of President Kruger. The preliminary programme at

Mr. Lippert's request was then communicated by cable to our London

friends. Upon receipt of a reply to the effect that our London

friends were in favour of any arrangement which would produce harmony

and secure administrative and financial reform, which was

communicated to Mr. E. Lippert, a meeting was arranged with Dr.

Leyds, Messrs. Reitz, Smuts, and Lippert, as representing the

Government, on the 9th of March; but as Messrs. Brakhan, Birkenruth,

and Rouliot had repeatedly mentioned that they did not consider

themselves qualified to discuss matters on behalf of the general body

of Uitlanders, and seeing that the programme submitted was to be

considered as a whole, and either adopted or rejected as such,

therefore it would be necessary to obtain the views, on the franchise

question, of prominent citizens more able to express the wishes of

Uitlanders on this subject; Mr. Lippert, on behalf of the Government,

invited in addition Messrs. Pierce and Pistorious to be present at

the meeting.

At this meeting several points were discussed, but as no definite

proposal regarding franchise could be submitted, no decision was

arrived at, it being made clear, however, that this was only a

preliminary conversation with the object of exchanging views, and

that in any case the opinion of the Uitlander population, and also

that of our friends in Europe, would have to be fully ascertained.

On the 12th instant, at the request of Mr. Lippert, Messrs. Brakhan,

Birkenruth, Rouliot, Pierce, Pistorious and Fitzpatrick met, and Mr.

Lippert communicated to us the definite proposals of the S.A.R.

Government, which were duly cabled the same day to our friends,

requesting a reply before the end of the week, as the Government

would have to submit the whole matter to the Raad, and we were

requested to sign an agreement with the Government, and a declaration

binding on ourselves and our London friends.

Their answer, suggesting a further conference with Dr. Leyds in

London, was duly communicated to his Honour the State President. His

Honour's reply, stating that the exchange of views had better take

place here, was communicated to our European friends.

Now they have cabled us a full _précis_ of the proceedings and

resolutions passed at the meeting held in London on the 16th

instant, and the following is therefore the expression of our opinion

as well as that of our European friends, upon the subjects which have

already been discussed between the representatives of the S.A.R.

Government, and ourselves.

It having been stipulated by the Government that the various matters

herein dealt with shall be taken as parts of one whole plan, we have

bowed to that decision, and we beg now to reply under the various

heads on the understanding that no one portion may be judged as apart

from the whole.

BEWAARPLAATSEN.

In furtherance of the general settlement, those of us directly

concerned in the mining industry would be prepared to recommend a

modification of the claims of the surface holder and a final

settlement of the question on the lines suggested as preferable to

the continued uncertainty, on the understanding that the basis for

valuation should be arrived at by fixing, after consultation, a

maximum price upon the best situated bewaarplaatsen or water-right,

and that the price of all other mining rights under bewaarplaatsen,

machine stands or water-rights be valued by competent engineers on

the basis and in relation to the above maximum value, taking into

consideration the comparative value of the outcrop claims and the

diminishing value in depth; the surface holder having the preferent

right to acquire the undermining rights at the price thus arrived at.

FINANCIER AND AUDITOR.

The appointment of a suitable man with efficient control and assured

status would undoubtedly meet one of the most serious of the

grievances, and would be universally accepted as satisfactory. The

financier, in order to enjoy the confidence of all concerned, and

with a view to avoid as far as possible ulterior discussion of his

recommendations, should be approved of by some person belonging to a

firm of well-known independent standing, such as Lord Rothschild, for

instance. The financier to be a member of the Executive Council, and

to formulate and approve every scheme of taxation should further or

other taxation become necessary.

LOAN.

Any loan offered at reasonable rates and approved by the Finance

Minister for the common good would undoubtedly receive our support;

we understanding, on the other hand, that no new taxation will be

imposed on the general population or the mining industry pending the

appointment of the financier.

PRESS AGITATION.