MILNER AND BOTHA.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 285, 26 August 1908, Page 7

MILNER AND BOTHA.

AN ACCUSATION. ' ALLOCATION OF,WAR LOSSES CRANT. AN "UGLY INCIDENT." (BT TFLEGRAPn —r It ESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT.) Pretoria, August 24.' General Botha, Premier of tho Transvaal, speaking in the Legislative Assembly, said that tho administration of ■ Lord .Milner (formerly High Commissioner, for South Africa) had bfien the most unfortunate thing that had ever happened in tho Transvaal. The distribution of the three million grant was the ugliest incident in the Transvaal's history. The Progressives declared that the distribution was in accordance with the Vereeniging settlement',' and that' the three millions actually became nine millions. Mr. F. D. P. Chaplin (Progressive member for Germiston West) asked—if Lord Milner had been autocratic—what was General Botha?GRANTS AND LOANS. TERMS OF THE SETTLEMENT. In clause X of the Vereeniging peace settlement it was provided that a commission, on which the local inhabitants stould he represented, should be appointed in each district of the Transvaal and tho Orange River Colony, under the presidency of a magistrate or other official, for the purpose of assisting'in tho restoration of the people to their homes and making good the war losses. Tho settlement also provided for a- three million grant from the Imperial Government for this purpose. The British signatories were Lords Kitchener and Milner. It has long been alleged, that the money was not equitably allocated. One authority states that, in addition to the three millions, three other funds have been drawn on—(1) A sum of .£5,000,000 appropriated for "repatriation and compensation" from tho Transvaal guaranteed loan, (2) a ,£2,000,000 free grant'from the Imperial funds like the threo millions first mentioned, (3) a sum of £2,000,000 paid by the War Office for disbursement to the "protected burghers," being men to whom the mflitar.v authorities had incurred some special obligation. . There was also a further sum of .£2,500,000 paid out by the Imperial authorities, but that _ was to discharge military receijits given during the war; that is to say, this ,£2,500,000 was for goods received. All the above ' sums, "JJ14,500,000 in total, assisted in the re-stocking of the country and in giving the people a fresh start,