moderation, mutual conciliation, and fairness the peace of South Africa might be secured. Mr. RoseInness, leader of the regular Opposition, presented as an amendment a moderate declaration of imperial policy and a demand for the redress of the grievances of the Uitlanders in the Transvaal. In the end the Bond resolution was adopted by 41 votes to 32, but with an amendment deprecating the intervention of any foreign powers in disputes between the Imperial Government and the South African Republic. In the Legislative Council this resolution in the interest of peace in South Africa and noninterference in the affairs of the Boer Republic was carried by a two-third majority. A few days later Mr. Merriman, representing the friends of the Transvaal Government, offered a motion of no confidence in the Government. Although Mr. RoseInness and 14 of his party now voted with the extreme Dutch party, most of his English followers supported the ministry, and 8 members of the Progressive Dutch party also stood by the Government. The result was a tie vote of 36 votes on each side, and the speaker gave his casting vote to retain the Government in office. Mr. Rose-Inness then resigned as leader of the Opposition, taking, with his immediate supporters, an independent position, while the Dutch party, which for years under Mr. Hofmeyr's lead, had been able to control legislation and dictate policies by giving or withholding its vote, became the regular Opposition under the leadership of Mr. Sauer. The Assembly resolved to limit the introduction of undesirable immigrants. A bill was carried giving licensing boards power to prohibit the sale of liquor to natives, but it was thrown out by the Legislative Council. The surplus revenue for the past year was £500,000, and for the coming one Sir J. Gordon Sprigg estimated a revenue of £6,715,000 and an expenditure of £6,488,000, leaving a surplus of £227,000. He asked that the whole surplus be reserved for the extinction of the rinderpest, which had already consumed £667,000. The cost of suppressing the Bechuanaland revolt was estimated at £95,000. A resolution was passed authorizing the Prime Minister, who was about to depart for England to represent the colony in the diamond jubilee, to take provisional steps to arrange some basis of contribution by the colony toward the imperial navy. Accordingly, Sir J. Gordon Sprigg offered the gift on the part of Cape Colony, subject to ratification by the Cape Assembly, of the cost of a first-class battle ship to be added to the British navy without conditions.

Basutoland.-The native territory of Basutoland, lying between Cape Colony, Natal, and the Orange Free State, has been administered by a Resident Commissioner under the direction of the High Commissioner for South Africa since March 13, 1884. The area is estimated at 10,293 square miles, and the population at 250,000. European settlement on the land is prohibited. There are 99 Europeans in Maseru, the chief town. The natives raise wool, wheat, mealies, and Kaffir corn, and have many horses and cattle. The exports, consisting of grain, cattle, and wool, were valued at £139,500 in 1896. The revenue is derived from a hut tax of 108., trading licenses, and the post office, and is supplemented by a contribution of £18,000 from Cape Colony. The whole amount was £45,653 in 1896, and the expenditures amounted to £42,970. The Resident Commissioner is G. Y. Langden.

Kaffir Disturbances.-As soon as the Cape mounted rifles departed from Bechuanaland a body of armed and mounted natives collected at Umzimkulu and presented their demands to the magistrate. When the unruly chief at the head of the movement was arrested, the natives assembled at Kokstad to discuss a plan of action, while the whites

and trusty natives guarded the magazine, and a force of Cape mounted rifles was dispatched to the spot from the south. The threatened disturbance was thus averted. On June 21 the Cape Assembly passed a bill under which a disobedient chief or any dangerous white can be arrested by proclamation. The followers of Sigcau in Pondoland became restless and insubordinate, and in Basutoland serious troubles were threatened. Tribal quarrels had resulted in bloodshed, and the contending chiefs were accordingly summoned by the Resident Commissioner, Sir Godfrey Langden, to appear before him. One chief refused to attend, but ultimately appeared with an imposing cavalcade of followers. Bechuanaland Protectorate.-The area of the Bechuanaland Protectorate is about 386,200 square miles. When British Bechuanaland was annexed to Cape Colony in November, 1895, new arrangements were made for the government of the protectorate. The chiefs Khama, Sebele, and Bathoen rule their respective tribes under the supervision of a resident commissioner. The chiefs receive the hut tax. Outside of the boundaries fixed for them the administration was committed to the British South Africa Company. The natives are peaceable and industrious, devoting themselves to agriculture and the rearing of cattle. The Resident Commissioner is F. J. Newton.

Native Rebellion.-The natives of the British Bechuanaland reserve, reduced to a deplorable condition by locust plagues, rinderpest, and other disasters, persuaded themselves, or were persuaded, as they afterward said, by a Boer intriguer named Bosman, who was, however, fully exculpated by his Government after an investigation, that the Cape Government intended to take their lands, which the annexation act of 1895 declared should not be alienated or in any way diverted from the purposes for which they were set apart. The forcible killing of their cattle, as a precaution against the spread of the rinderpest, they were led to believe was nothing but a device for wiping out the people. The relaxation of the liquor regulations and other actions tolerated by the Cape Government strengthened their suspicion that they were to be got rid of in order to hand over their lands to white settlers. Rendered desperate by distress and this belief in their impending doom, they began to plunder the outlying farms, and committed several murders, and soon the tribes concerned in these outrages found themselves in open rebellion against the Government. This movement spread till it involved about one seventh of the Bechuana nation. First, in December, 1896, the chief Galishwe, in the Taungs reserve of British Bechuanaland, revolted. His tribe numbered 2,000 fighting men, and against them were sent 165 Cape police, 384 mounted riflemen from Kimberley, and 400 Cape volunteers, while the burghers of the disturbed district defended themselves. Lukas Jantje's followers joined the rebels, who murdered several settlers and storekeepMolalla, who disputed the supremacy with Galishwe, offered his aid to the Government, while Tooti and the rest of the Batlaros tribe joined the rebellion and committed outrages southwest of Vryburg. These natives, who had never been troublesome before, were quickly defeated by a strong force of burghers and volunteers. The natives of East Griqualand also became restless, and the farmers throughout these regions placed their families in security and went into laager. A field force was organized at the Cape, but volunteers were not summoned from the eastern districts, for there also there was danger of native disaffection. Meanwhile Galishwe's following increased largely. The colonial force, numbering 1,067 men, advanced on his position in Langeberg, toward the end of March,

ers.

in three columns. Lukas Jantje's village of Gamasiep, at the foot of the mountains, was burned by Col. Dalgety's column, and the kraals of the whole district were destroyed and the natives driven into the mountains in order to starve the rebels into surrender. The rebel chief Toto's stronghold was captured on May 10. The rebels in the mountains were short of food, but they still held out. Galishwe's position was once surrounded, but he slipped out with his followers and escaped northward. In June a larger expedition was organized for the purpose of a simultaneous advance on the five kloofs in Langeberg held by Galishwe, Toto, and Lukas Jantje. The re-enforcements consisted of 600 Cape volunteers, 400 of the Cape mounted rifles, and 400 natives. The burgher force of 500 men, operating with the troops already in the field, was disbanded as being unfit for this kind of warfare, some of them having fired on friendly natives. Active operations were not begun till late in July. The field force attacked Langeberg at all five points, the principal attack being on Galishwe's town. Gamasiep and Gamaluce were taken. Lukas Jantje was killed, and Dokwe, his successor, surrendered. The commander of a corps from Cape Town was afterward punished for having the head of the chief Lucas Jantje cut off for the purpose of presenting the skull to a museum. Galishwe was wounded, but escaped. Twaai's kloof, to which the rebels retreated in confusion, was stormed on Aug. 1. Toto surrendered unconditionally. The mountain column, 1,000 strong, marched upon Puduhusche, the last stronghold in Langeberg, and found it deserted. Galishwe was captured after several weeks and placed on trial at Kimberley.

Sir Gordon Sprigg brought in a bill to confiscate the land of the rebellious Bechuanas and devote it to European occupation, collecting the natives into three locations small enough to enable the Government to keep them under supervision. The bill was passed on June 10. The area taken from the natives was 483,000 acres, about one sixth of the Bechuanaland reserves, with a population of about 8.000 out of the total native population of 57,000. After the rebellion was crushed by the storming of Langeberg, the Government made provision for the Bechuanas, who were likely to starve in their own country, having lost everything in consequence of the rinderpest and the failure of the crops. It was decided to place them as indentured laborers with Cape farmers to work for stipulated wages. Government agents were to visit the farms to see that the men were treated humanely. The rebels had in many instances surrendered on condition that they be allowed to return to their homes. The Government of Cape Colony, however, resolved that there should be no more wars in Bechuanaland, decided to deport the population of the disturbed district. Several thousands were carried off to the south and distributed among the farmers on five years' contracts with wages at the rate of 10s. a month for able-bodied men. Philanthropic societies in England protested against this form of veiled slavery as a violation of the emancipation act of 1834.

German Southwest Africa.-The German protectorate, extending 930 miles along the coast and inland to 20 of east longitude in the south and 21° north of 22° of south latitude, with a strip running along the Chobe river down to the Zambesi north of 18° of latitude, has an estimated area of 320.000 square miles and a population of 200.000 Hottentots, Bushmen, Damaras, and Kaffirs. The white population in 1896 was 2.025. The Imperial Commissioner is Major Leutwein. The revenue for 1895, including an imperial contribution of 1,000,000 marks, was 1,027,740 marks. The expenditure

was 2,457,580 marks. The budget for 1898 makes the revenue 3,015,000, and the expenditure 3,565,000 marks. The imports by sea in 1894 were valued at 944,695 marks; exports, 106,833 marks. The trade overland is much greater. A harbor is being built at Swakop river, north of the English port of Walfisch Bay, which is now the only practicable harbor. Copper and gold have been found, but they have not yet been worked with profit. The natives raise large herds of cattle in Damaraland. Sheep and native goats are bred also. The native risings in Bechuanaland and other British territories stirred the warlike spirit of the Hottentots of Damaraland. On July 5 a band of 200 in a well-fortified kloof repelled a German force near the British border. Early in August the Germans attacked the position with artillery and dispersed the rebels. Their leader, Keviedo Afrikander, fled into British territory, where he was arrested in September. The Government, by means of disciplinary and other measures, endeavored to prevent the entrance of the rinderpest, but in 1897 it swept through German Southwest Africa with disastrous effect. The dearth of cattle determined the Government to build light railroads on which the cars will be drawn by mules, hundreds of which were imported for the purpose from the Argentine Republic. A harbor is to be constructed at the mouth of the Swakop river that will render the Germans independent of Walfisch Bay, and from the new port to Windhock, the capital, a line of railroad will be built.

Natal. The Constitution of 1893 vests the legislative power in a Legislative Council of 11 members appointed for ten years, half being replaced every five years, and a Legislative Assembly of 37 members, elected for four years by voters qualified by possessing real property of the value of £50, or paying £10 rent, or having an income of £96. The number of electors in 1896 was 9,483. The assent of the Governor, revocable within two years, is required before any bill can become law. The Governor is Sir Walter Francis Hely-Hutchinson, appointed in 1893. The ministers at the beginning of 1897 were: Premier and Colonial Secretary and Minister of Education, Sir John Robinson; Attorney-General, Harry Escombe; Treasurer, G. M. Sutton; Minister of Native Affairs, F. R. Moor; Minister of Lands and Works, T. K. Murray.

Area and Population.-The area of Natal is estimated at 20,461 square miles. The population in 1891 was 543,913, consisting of 46,788 Europeans, 41,142 Indians, and 455,983 Kaffirs. Durban, the capital, had a population of 27,984 in 1894. The attendance in the aided and inspected schools for whites in 1896 was 7,840, and about 2,000 children attend private schools. About 96 per cent. of the white children receive instruction. The Government expenditure on education in 1896 was £41,000. The native schools have an attendance of 6,790 and receive £5,200 from the Government, which granted £1,825 to Indian schools with a daily attendance of 2,919 scholars.

Finances. The revenue of the colony from ordinary sources in the year ending June 30, 1895, was £1,169,780, of which £536,409 came from railroads, £189,926 from customs, £20,349 from excise, £45,320 from land sales, £54.729 from the post office, £15,767 from telegraphs, £23,997 from stamps and licenses, and £84,868 from the nativehut tax. The total expenditure was £1,148,093, of which £303,176 represent railroad expenses, £64,796 public works, and £116,234 defense. The expenditure from loans was £147.487. The public debt on June 30, 1895, was £8.054,343. There is a body of 259 European mounted police, the cost of which and of the jails of the colony was £78,830

for the year, besides which the Government contributed £34,525 to the expenses of the volunteers, who number 1,531 men.

Commerce and Production.-There were 203,293 acres cultivated by Europeans in 1895. The leading crop for export is sugar, of which 20,401 tons were exported. Of tea_737,000 pounds were gathered from 2,297 acres. Corn, wheat, oats, and green crops are grown. The natives had 376,780 acres under cultivation. Europeans owned 27,758 horses, 229,512 cattle, 950,187 sheep, and 60,582 Angora goats, and natives 30,871 horses, 508,938 cattle, 19,282 sheep, and 285,517 goats. The coal output in 1895 was 160,115 tons. The total value of imports in 1895 was £2,469,303. The principal articles are haberdashery and apparel, iron manufactures, leather goods, flour and grain, cottons, woolens, machinery, and beverages. The value of the exports was £1,318,502. Gold, wool, and other products of the Dutch republics make the bulk of the exports. The export of wool was £452,412; of gold bars, £203,623 of coal, £72,315; of sugar, £56,961; of hides and skins, £46,270; of Angora hair, £28,610; of bark, £21,345.

Navigation. During 1895 there were 540 vessels, of 788,495 tons, entered, and 536, of 781,571 tons cleared. The shipping of the colony consisted of 13 sailing vessels, of 674 tons, and 12 steam vessels, of 820 tons.

Railroads. The railroads, which belong solely to the Government, have a length of 402 miles. There is a line from Durban to the border of the South African Republic, 307 miles, connecting with a railroad that runs through to Johannesburg and Pretoria, the total distance from the port of Durban to Pretoria being 511 miles. Branches have been built to Verulam, Isipingo, and Harrismith, in the Orange Free State. The capital expenditure up to the end of 1895 was £6,117,211; gross receipts for 1895, £526,494; expenses, £278,756, leaving a net revenue equal to 4.05 per cent. on the capital.

Cabinet Changes.—On Feb. 13 Sir John Robinson resigned the premiership on the ground of ill health. Harry Escombe, the Attorney-General, reorganized the ministry. In September the Government, in compliance with a request of the South African Republic, granted rebates amounting to the whole customs duty on numerous articles of the transit trade. The general elections took place near the end of that month, and the ministry sustained an unexpected defeat. Mr. Escombe and his colleagues resigned, and on Oct. 5 Mr. Binns formed a new ministry, in which he took the post of Colonial Secretary, with the premiership, Mr. Bale became Attorney-General and Minister of Education, Mr. Hime Minister of Public Works, Mr. Hulett Minister for Native Affairs, and Mr. Arbuckle Treasurer. Indian Immigration.-The people of Natal were greatly excited at the beginning of the year by the arrival of two ship-loads of East Indians. The importation of coolies to work on the plantations on time contracts has long been permitted, but the settlement in the country of Indians whose contracts have expired or the immigration of free Indians has always been unpopular, and various restrictions and regulations, based ostensibly on sanitary or other legal grounds, have been adopted to deter Indians from remaining in Natal. An Indian is liable to be arrested at any time unless he can produce a pass to show that he is a free Indian and not an indentured laborer. An indentured Indian on becoming free pays a poll tax of £3 a year as long as he continues to live in the colony.Although British subjects, they are denied the electoral franchise under a law withholding it from natives of all countries not endowed with parliamentary institutions. The Government high schools

are closed to Indian students. To prevent the landing of the Indians from the ships the inhabitants of Durban organized themselves to obey leaders and to assemble at the wharves prepared to resist their landing by force. They demanded that the Government send them back to India at its own expense, and that a law be made forbidding the further immigration of free Indians. The ships were held in quarantine, and meanwhile a bill was passed conferring powers on the Government to impose quarantine indefinitely on ships with Indians on board. Another bill established new licensing restrictions upon traders on the pretense of preventing unsanitary conditions. A law to exclude undesirable immigrants was not directed exclusively against Indians.

Zululand. The territory that was formally annexed by Great Britain in May, 1887, extending north of the Tugela river, the boundary of Natal, to the border of Tongoland and to the South African Republic on the northwest, has an area of about 12,500 square miles and a population estimated in 1895 at 1,246 whites and 165,121 natives. The Resident Commissioner, Sir Marshal Clarke, administers the country under the direction of the Governor of Natal, who is also Governor of Zululand. The police force is composed of 250 natives. The Zulus, who raise cattle and till the soil, pay a hut tax of 14s. Gold, silver, lead, copper, tin, iron, asbestos, and coal are found. Companies organized for gold mining have not yet met with success. There are 87 miles of telegraph. The revenue in 1895 was £51,746, and the expenditure £66,172.

Orange Free State.-The Constitution proclaimed on April 10, 1854, and amended on Feb. 9, 1866, and May 8, 1879, vests the legislative power in the Volksraad, consisting of 58 members, elected for four years, half of them retiring every two years, by the votes of the burghers possessing real property worth £500, or paying £36 a year for leased property, or having an income of £200, or owning £300 worth of personal property. The executive power is vested in a President elected_for five years. The President is T. Steyn, elected Feb. 21, 1896.

The area of the republic is estimated at 48,326 square miles. There was in 1890 a white popula tion of 77,716, consisting of 40,571 males and 37,145 females. The natives numbered 129,787, of whom 67,791 were males and 61,996 females, making the total population 207,503. Education is controlled by the Government, but is not compulsory, nor is it free, except for the poor. There were 162 Government schools in 1895, with 220 teachers and 4.867 pupils.

The revenue for ten months ending Dec. 31, 1895, was £259,589, and the expenditure £271,935. Of the receipts, £93.190 were import duties, £41,618 stamp duties, £28,576 transfer duties, £26,347 postoffice and telegraph receipts, £10,425 quit rents and £7,810 the native poll tax. Of the disbursements, £40,169 were for salaries, £40,000 for public works, £36,755 for education, £23,905 for posts and telegraphs, £10,043 for police, and £3,900 for the artillery.

Every able-bodied man in the country between sixteen and sixty years of age can be called into military service by the field cornet of his district in case of war. The number of burghers fit for service in 1896 was 17,381. There is an artillery corps. which was doubled in 1896, when a new fort was built for the protection of the capital, Bloemfontein. The present strength is 102 men, besides a reserve of 350 men who have served their term.

The land is divided into about 6,000 farms, having a total area of 24.675,800 acres, of which 250,600 acres are cultivated. Most of the land is only

adapted for grazing. There were 248,878 horses, 276,073 draught oxen, 619,026 other cattle, 6,619,992 sheep, 858,155 goats, and 1,461 ostriches in the country in 1890. There are good coal mines, and gold is found. The diamonds of the Orange Free State are usually of fine quality; the product in 1894 was 282,598 carats, valued at £428,039. Foreign commerce passes through the Cape and Natal ports. The imports for 1895 were estimated at £926,567, of which £676,716 came from Cape Colony, £168,966 from Natal and the South African Republic, and £80,885 from Basutoland. The estimated value of the exports was £1,515,845, of which £519,987 went to Cape Colony and £931,860 to the South African Republic. Wool is the chief export, and hides, diamonds, and ostrich feathers come next in order. The railroad from Norval's Point, on the Orange river, to Bloemfontein, 121 miles, and the continuation to Viljoen's Drift, on the Vaal river, 209 miles, were built by the Cape Government, and have been transferred to the Government of the Republic. Bloemfontein is connected with the telegraph systems of Natal, the South African Republic, and Cape Colony by 1,500 miles of telegraph lines.

Politics and Legislation. The railroad built through the Orange Free State by the Cape railroad administration, connecting the colonial lines with those of the South African Republic, became the property of the Free State Government for the price of £850,000, and passed into its possession on Jan. 1, 1897. An aliens bill revoking the franchise exercised by resident foreigners was discussed in May. The members of the Raad were equally divided on the question, though the bill involved an amendment of the Constitution, which conferred on aliens the full franchise denied to Uitlanders in the Transvaal. Another bill was passed in June granting the franchise to Uitlanders only after three years' residence, but not requiring them to forswear allegiance to their native country. To make this a law three fourths of the Volksraad must ratify it in the succeeding year. A treaty of amity and friendship with Germany was ratified. A Commission was appointed to revise the Constitution and submit the proposed amendments at the next session of the Volksraad. The Raad agreed to the principles of closer union with the Transvaal, and afterward ratified the political treaty negotiated by the two Presidents. The customs union with Cape Colony was ratified on June 20.

South African Republic.-The legislative authority is vested in two houses, each consisting of 24 members elected in as many districts. The members of the First Volksraad are elected by the firstclass burghers, comprising white male citizens who resided in the country prior to May 29, 1876, or who took part in the war of independence in 1881 or the Malaboch war of 1894, and their sons from the age of sixteen. The Second Volksraad is elected by the second-class burghers, comprising naturalized aliens and their sons from the age of sixteen. A white alien can become naturalized after residing two years in the country by registering his name, taking the oath of allegiance, and paying a fee of £2. Naturalized citizens of twelve years' standing may be made first-class burghers by special resolution of the First Volksraad. Sons of aliens registered at the age of sixteen may become naturalized at the age of eighteen and acquire the rights of first-class burghers at the age of forty. Aliens entering the Republic since Jan. 1. 1897, must be provided with means of identification and prove that they can support themselves, and must further have traveling passports good for three months, or for one year if they intend to remain. The executive power is vested in a President, elected for five VOL. XXXVII-8 A

years by the votes of the first-class burghers. He is assisted by an Executive Council, consisting of 4 official members and 2 nonofficial members, elected by the First Volksraad. The State President is S. J. P. Krüger, elected for his third term on May 12, 1896. The Vice-President is Gen. P. J. Joubert. The Executive Council in the beginning of 1897 was composed as follows: Commandant General, Gen. P. J. Joubert; State Secretary, Dr. W. J. Leyds; Superintendent of Natives, Commander P. Cronje; Minute Keeper, J. H. M. Kock; unofficial members, M. A. Wolmarans and S. W. Burger.

The revenue for six months in 1896 was £2,076,030, more than double that of the full year 1891. The increase is due to the receipts for licenses, royalties, etc., from the gold fields. The expenditure for the six months was £1,490,068, leaving a balance of £1,510,945 in the treasury on June 30, 1896. Besides the revenue from the gold mines, the income of the Government is derived from land sales and quit rents, customs duties, a native-hut tax, transport dues, and stamps. The revenue from the gold mines in 1895 amounted to £1,848,571 out of a total of £3,539,955. In the estimates for the full year 1896 the revenue was taken at £3,862,193 and the expenditures at £4,216,657. In the latter sum are included the extraordinary expenditure of £300,000 for preventing the spread of the rinderpest, £730,000 for public works, £943,510 for the purchase of war material, and £585,350 for other purposes. The public debt amounted in September, 1896, to £2,690,579, consisting principally of a loan of £2,500,000 contracted with the banking house of Rothschild and a debt of £156,662 due to the British Government on account of the British occupation in 1870-80. The only permanent military force is the horse artillery, numbering 32 officers and 368 men. There is a force of 1,170 volunteers. In case of war every able-bodied citizen is called to arms.

The area of the South African Republic is 119,139 square miles. The census of 1890, which made the white population 119,128, divided into 66,498 males and 52,630 females, was very incomplete. In 1896 the white population was estimated at 180,000 and the native population at 609,879. Pretoria, the capital, has about 8,000 inhabitants. Johannesburg, the center of the mining district of Witwatersrand, had a population on July 15, 1896, of 102,714, of whom 51,225 were whites, 7,093 of mixed race, and 44,396 natives. The Government schools, in which Dutch is the language of instruction, had 7,679 pupils in 1895, in which year the Government expended £63,778 on education. In Johannesburg and other places the alien residents maintain separate English schools.

The soil is well adapted for agriculture as well as grazing, but the latter has been heretofore the chief industry, while grain and other produce has to be imported. There are 12,245 farms, of which number the Government owns 3,636, resident owners and companies 6,997, and alien owners and companies 1,612. The principal exports are gold, wool, cattle, hides, grain, ostrich feathers, ivory, brandy, and minerals. The dutiable imports in 1895 were valued at £9,816,304, of which £6,440,215 came from European countries and £3,536,677 from the neighboring countries and others. The duties collected were £1,085,419. The incorporated mining companies in 1895 numbered 170, with a total nominal capital of £43,544,983 and a working capital of £12,037,225. The output of the gold mines, situated principally at Witwatersrand and Barberton, was £8,569,555 in 1895, against £7,667,152 in 1894, £5,636,122 in 1893, £4,638,879 in 1892, and £2,917,702 in 1891. In six months of 1896 the product was £4,067,976.

Coal is mined in the Witwatersrand district and in the eastern part of the Transvaal. In 38 mines, employing 286 whites and 3,702 natives, 1,152,206 tons were produced in 1895, valued at £516,215. Silver, copper, and lead have been found, but mining is not now carried on. Tin is obtained from alluvial deposits in Swaziland, the product having increased from 30 tons in 1893 to 246 tons in 1895. There were 424 miles of railroad in operation, 384 miles in process of construction, and 381 miles projected in September, 1895. The railroad traversing the Orange Free State and connecting with the railroads of Cape Colony has been continued by the Cape Governinent, by agreement with the South African Republic, through Germiston to Pretoria, 78 miles from where it crosses the Vaal river and 1,040 miles from Cape Town. The railroad from Natal has been built through to Johannesburg and Pretoria. The Delagoa Bay Railroad, which has been continued for 295 miles from the Portuguese boundary to Pretoria, has been in operation since Jan. 1, 1895. Of the Selatie line of 191 miles, 54 iniles have been completed.

There are 1,952 miles of telegraphs in the republic.

Constitutional Conflict.-A constitutional conflict arose out of the decision of the High Court in the case of Brown vs. Dr. Leyds, delivered on Jan. 22, 1897. The plaintiff, an American prospector, had staked out gold claims within what had been proclaimed as public diggings, but when he applied for the licenses, he was informed that the proclamation had been withdrawn, and this was subsequent ly confirmed by a resolution of the Volksraad. One of the judges held that the resolution had no ex post facto effect, and did not extinguish Brown's rights acquired under the proclamation before it was revoked. Chief-Justice Kotze and Justice Ameshoff found for the plaintiff on constitutional grounds. The Government attorney contended that the second proclamation, after it had been confirmed by a resolution of the Volksraad, could not be brought into question, and quoted a statute of 1890, according to which the legal validity of any law or resolution duly promulgated can not be questioned in a court of law. The Chief Justice laid down the proposition that a mere resolution of the Volksraad can not alter a law that has been properly passed, and the further doctrine that neither a law nor a resolution has binding force in so far as it is contrary to the Grundwet, or Constitution of the Transvaal. This doctrine, derived from the principles of the Roman Dutch law and the analogy of the United States Constitution, was new in the Transvaal, directly contradicting a previous opinion given by the Chief Justice in a similar case in 1884, and it was regarded by President Krüger and by Dr. Leyds, his State Secretary, and Dr. Coster, the Attorney-General, as an encroachment on the powers of the Volksraad, which had itself enacted the Grundwet in the same manner as all other laws. They drafted a bill setting forth that the Volksraad is the supreme power in the state, that its resolutions have the force of law, that it has power to alter the Grundwet, that courts of justice are bound to respect and enforce whatever it has enacted or may enact, that the power of the courts to test laws or resolutions by the Grundwet has not existed and does not exist, and therefore enacting that existing and future laws and resolutions shall be acknowledged by courts of justice, which shall have no right to refuse to apply any law or resolution of the Volksraad on the ground that either in form or substance it is contrary to the Grundwet; further, prescribing a form of oath for all future judges, by which they shall declare that they will not arrogate to themselves the testing power; providing that a

judge who does so is guilty of malfeasance in office; and empowering the State President to ask the pres ent judges whether they deem it in accordance with their oath and duty to dispense justice according to the existing and future laws and resolutions of the Volksraad, and not to arrogate to themselves the testing power, and furthermore empowering him to dismiss those judges from whom he receives a negative or unsatisfactory answer or no answer at all. The judges addressed a letter to the President in which they collectively declared that the proposed measure was a violation of the independence of the High Court, and urging him to postpone action until the ordinary May session of the Volksraad. In spite of their remonstrance the President pressed the Volksraad to pass the bill immediately, arguing that Cecil Rhodes and other enemies of the Republic had been kept at bay for years only by Volksraad resolutions, and that if the supremacy of the Volksraad were undermined the convention with England might be broken and then war would en

sue.

Sir

The bill was passed on Feb. 25, and the President put the prescribed interrogatories to the justices, demanding an answer by March 17. Henry de Villiers, Chief Justice of Cape Colony, went to Pretoria and arranged a compromise by which the judges undertook for the present not to test the constitutionality of laws and resolutions of the Volksraad by the provisions of the Grundwet on the promise of the President that he would introduce without delay a measure providing that the Grundwet can only be altered by special legislation in a special manner, similar to the provisions of the Orange Free State Constitution, and that guarantees for the independence of the judiciary should be inserted in the Grundwet. The President requested the Volksraad to appoint a committee to act in conjunction with the Government in drafting proposals for a revision of the Grundwet and a codification of all existing laws, but the judges would not accept this as a fulfillment of his promise, which was to draft one himself, with their assistance and as speedily as practicable. In deference to their remonstrance the President agreed that the revision of the Grundwet should precede codification, which would be a task of two or three years. The committee of the Volksraad invited the judges to appoint some of their number to advise with other experts as to the procedure of revision. Chief-Justice Kotze and one of his colleagues declined the invitation, on the ground that the experts whom they were asked to confer with were the authors of the bill attacking the independence of the judiciary. Judges Morice, Gregorowski, and Esser were willing to give every assistance to the commission.

The Uitlanders.-It is estimated that the deposits of gold already discovered in the Transvaal contain £700,000,000 of the metal, and still more mines are located every month in the Lydenburg, Zoutpansberg, and Barberton districts. Coal and iron exist in inexhaustible quantities. The coal may not compete with the Welsh for use on ocean steamers, except perhaps on freight steamers in the Indian Ocean, but it is good enough for railroads and iron foundries. The healthy climate and productive soil of the Traansvaal are sufficient, with its extraordinary mineral resources, which include also silver, lead, copper, and other baser minerals. to attract a large immigration, to which gold mining has given only the first impetus, and make it in time the most populous state in South Africa. Its gold production has been of late years the chief support of Cape Colony and Natal as well as of its own inhabitants. The grievances of the Uitlanders on the Rand are often at direct variance with the interests and sentiments of the governments and people of the British colonies. For instance, to enable the