Fu, the capital. The presence of German troops to protect the railroad and the assertion of claims, not only to mining monopolies within ten miles on either side of the railroad, but also to the exclusive use of German material in native mines which desired to introduce foreign methods, raised apprehensions that Germany was proposing to follow the path taken by Russia in Manchuria. But in November the signature of an agreement with the Government of Shan-tung allayed such fears. Under this agreement Germany undertook within six months to withdraw all her troops to Tsing-tao, the German settlement near Kiao-chou; and China agreed to take over the barracks and convert them into a school. At the same time the German post-offices within the Province were to be handed over to the Chinese authorities. It was also decided that the Foreign Customs Office at Tsing-tao should be placed on the same footing as at treaty ports, but that 20 per cent. of import duties should be contributed towards the expenses of local administration.

No relaxation of energy was exhibited in the measures to secure and improve the port. An expenditure of 250,000l. on the fortification of the harbour was sanctioned by the Reichstag; and the construction of a floating dock 420 feet in length with a capacity of 16,000 tons was undertaken.

The revenue of the Colony rose from 30,5037. in 1903 to 50,1947. in 1904 and 100,1177. in 1905. The adoption of a reform in the collection of the land tax throws some light upon what similar reforms may accomplish in China. In place of the native land-tax collectors, the elders of the villages were in 1904 entrusted with the collection, and the land tax was definitely fixed at 300 cash per mow. The result was that the receipts in 1904 rose from 2781. to 9021., and the collection was made without difficulty.

VII. WEI-HAI-WEI (BRITISH).

As the lease to the British Government of Wei-hai-wei was conterminable with that of Port Arthur to Russia, some anxiety arose as to whether the existence of the new British Colony would come to an end with the fall of that fortress. This anxiety was relieved by an official announcement that this would not be the case, and China's subsequent consent to the transfer by Russia to Japan of her rights in the Kwan-tung Peninsula removed any question that might have remained in the mind of the public.

With the settlement of this question, the maintenance of the Chinese regiment was also determined upon. Its strength was fixed at 529 non-commissioned officers and men, and fifteen officers, at a cost of 11,6467. per annum. The Naval Estimates for 1905 contained a vote for 6,000l. for dredging in the harbour, but apart from this the Imperial expenses were generally reduced. In 1904 the grant-in-aid had been reduced from 11,250l. to 3,000l., and the revenue for that year gave promise

of the Colony being able to bear a still larger portion of its own burden.

VIII. FRENCH INDO-CHINA.

The taking possession of Krat and Hok-Kong under the recent treaty with Siam by M. Morel, Resident-General in Cambodia, was the occasion of a great ceremonial. Chantabun was evacuated on January 9.

The revenue for 1904 exceeded expenditure by about 300,000l., but the estimated revenue for 1905 showed a deficit of more than that amount. The French Government accordingly voted 3,600l. to meet the deficit in the local revenue. Of the military expenses of the Colony, estimated at 1,169,516l., the Colony contributes 540,0001.

In consequence of the state of things created by the passage of the Baltic Fleet to the East, a change was made in the naval command, and Rear-Admiral Marolles was appointed to the command in Indo-China, which, so far as personnel and matériel are concerned, was separated from the squadron in the Far East under Admiral Boisse.

The railway from Hanoi to Vinh (327 kils.) was opened in March by the Governor-General, and is expected to stimulate trade between Tonquin and Anam. Great progress was also made with the construction of the line from Haiphong to Yunnan-Fu vid Mengtzu.

CHAPTER VII.

AFRICA (WITH MALTA).

I. SOUTH AFRICA.

W. R. CARLES.

THE most important events of the year in South Africa were the promulgation, on March 31, of "Letters Patent and Order in Council providing for Constitutional Changes in the Transvaal," and, on December 22, of a despatch by the new Liberal Colonial Secretary, Lord Elgin, arresting the continued importation of Chinese, pending a decision by the Imperial Government as to the grant of responsible government to the Colony. In a covering despatch, dated March 31, Mr. Lyttelton said that His Majesty's Government recognised that the grant of the new Constitution in the then circumstances of the Colony, and so soon after the end of the war, would be regarded by some as a step not unattended by risk. We shall describe later what those circumstances were. But the first place in this record should be given to the Constitution itself. It would bring into being a Legislative Assembly for the Transvaal, but not for the Orange River Colony. This Assembly was to consist of the Lieutenant-Governor and not less than six and

not more than nine official members, and not less than thirty and not more than thirty-five elected members. The official members were to be such persons holding office under the Government of the Colony, and being members of the Executive Council, as might be appointed by the Crown through the Secretary of State. The elected members were to be persons chosen by the voters in districts created by a Commission. Power was reserved to the Governor to make provisional appointments to the official section in the event of any official member ceasing to act.

Every qualified white male British subject of the age of twenty-one years and upwards was entitled to be registered as a voter, but no person could register in, or vote in, more than one district. The qualifications were: (a) Enrolment on the latest list of burghers of the late South African Republic. (b) The fact of having for not less than six months, consecutively or in the aggregate, occupied any premises in the Colony which, with the land on which such premises were situate, were of the value of 100%. or the annual value of 10. In cases of joint occupation, each occupancy was to be of the value of 100%. or annual value of 10. (c) Any person would be entitled to vote who for not less than six months, whether consecutive or not, within a year before registration had been in receipt of salary or wages at the rate of not less than 100l. a year bona fide earned within the Colony. The right to vote was subject to disqualifications from recent criminal conviction or reception of public relief (repatriation relief and relief in hospitals partly supported by public funds excepted).

The method of registering voters was to be prescribed by Orders in Council or the laws of the Colony. On the completion of the final list of voters at the first registration, the Lieutenant-Governor was to appoint three Commissioners. These Commissioners were to divide the Colony into not less than thirty and not more than thirty-five electoral districts, until such time as there might be a redivision, and one member should be returned for each district. The division was to have regard to existing wards and districts, community or diversity of interests, means of communication and physical features. Subject thereto, the number of voters in each district was as far as possible to be the number of all the qualified voters, divided by the number of districts. There was to be a biennial registration of voters in every district not later than the last day of March, and after each biennial registration Commissioners were to redivide the Colony into districts. For this purpose the number of voters, as shown by the final lists of the last biennial registration, was to be divided by the quota of voters, and the number resulting from that division, or the nearest whole number, was to be the number of electoral districts into which the Colony was to be redivided; and for each district one member was then to be elected.

The Legislative Assembly was to "make laws required for the peace, order and good government of the Colony, the Governor assenting to such laws or reserving them for the signification of the Royal pleasure." Full power was expressly reserved to the Crown to disallow any law within two years after its reception by the Secretary of State, and such disallowance being officially signified in the Transvaal should "make void and annul the said law." No reserved law was to have any effect until the Royal pleasure was formally made known. Paragraph 18 of the Letters Patent read: "It shall not be lawful for the Legislative Assembly to pass any law, vote or resolution which shall have the effect of appropriating any part of our revenue within the said Colony, or of imposing any rate, tax or duty unless such law, vote or resolution has been first recommended to the Assembly by message of the Governor during the session in which it is proposed, and no part of our revenue within the said Colony shall be issued, except under the authority given by the Lieutenant-Governor directed to the Colonial Treasurer thereof."

The Governor might prorogue or dissolve the Assembly at his discretion, and should dissolve it at the expiration of four years from the date of the return of the first writs at the last preceding general election if it should not have been sooner dissolved. All debates and discussions in the Assembly were to be in the English language, and the records kept in that language; but any member might, with the permission of the President, address the Assembly in the Dutch language. Every member before sitting and voting must subscribe to the oath of allegiance to the British Crown.

The existing Constitution, under the Letters Patent of September 23, 1902, was to continue in force until a day to be fixed by proclamation by the Governor, when it should become ipso facto dissolved. Provision was made for defraying out of the revenues of the Colony the expenses of the Services. The final paragraph of the document contained reservations of the undoubted right of the Crown, with the advice of the Privy Council, to make all such laws as might appear to be necessary for the peace, order and good government of the Colony, and full power to revoke, alter or amend the Letters Patent.

In a long covering despatch Mr. Lyttelton reviewed the circumstances in which the grant of the Constitution had been made. He had, he said, had the advantage of discussing the whole matter with Lord Milner, and had studied carefully the copious expressions of local opinion. The scheme had the general concurrence of Lord Milner, and the Government believed that it would command the adherence of sensible and prudent men both in South Africa and in other parts of the British Empire. He referred to the promises contained in the Terms of Peace in 1902, that military government would be succeeded by civil at the earliest possible date, and, as soon as

circumstances permitted, "representative institutions leading up to self-government would be introduced." The intentions of His Majesty's Government were more precisely stated by Mr. Chamberlain in the House of Commons on July, 1902, when he said that the next advance from the official element would be a nominative element in the Government, and afterwards the substitution of an elective element for the nominative. Having traced the fulfilment of these pledges-which, he said, had been given, not to any one section of the population, but to the inhabitants of the two Colonies as a whole-Mr. Lyttelton said His Majesty's Government had decided in July, 1904, that the time had come to give representative institutions to the Transvaal. Large sections of the people in the Transvaal, he recognised, desired full responsible self-government. But, as he pointed out, full self-government, as it was understood in the United Kingdom and in the self-governing Colonies, implied and involved in practice, party government; that is, control both of administration and legislation by the political leaders of the party holding a majority in the Legislature. Now, having regard to events still recent, "parties in the Transvaal," said Mr. Lyttelton, "must for some time yet mainly coincide with the line of races, and party Government would most probably mean government by one race or the other. It will become more practicable when the two races have, with equal rights of citizenship, lived and acted somewhat longer together, and when bitter memories have become softened by the healing effect of time."

Representative institutions for the discussion and transaction of common interests would materially aid in this harmonising process. But "to constitute at once a complete system of government by party, would, it must be feared, as conditions. stand at present, emphasise and stereotype the racial line, by making it also the dividing line between Government and Opposition." His Majesty's Government were not prepared to take this responsibility. They had never swerved from the view that elective representative institutions must precede by some interval, though they hoped not a very long one, the concession of full self-government. This policy was dictated by the particular circumstances of the Transvaal and by the lessons of experience in other Colonies-a point reinforced by a brief historical survey of the constitutional developments of the great self-governing Colonies. The precedent of the Transvaal would govern the case of the Orange River Colony in due time. The immediate grant of full self-government to the new Colonies not being as yet practicable His Majesty's Government had given careful consideration to what degree the nominative element should be replaced by an elective. The despatch then proceeded with an elaborate exposition of the Constitution as set out above, the argument being that such a system as that now granted to the Transvaal had proved in Cape Colony and in Natal "to be