DELIMITATION REPORT.

Evening Post, Volume LXXX, Issue 38, 13 August 1910, Page 5

DELIMITATION REPORT.

The Commission appointed under the South Africa Act to make- tho first delimitation of the provinces into electoral divisions issued their report on 31st ] May last. The task was one of some difficulty. The first was due to the fact that while in the Transvaal and the Cape the registration of voters for 1909 had just been completed, in the Orange River Colony the register in force, that of 1907, was declared to be defective, and in Natal the register, though a re--cent one, was also alleged to be inaccurate. In each case, however, a new register was made in time to admit of slight modifications being introduced into the scheme drawn up, the Commission considering that no substantial changes were called for by the new inj formation at their disposal. But the most formidabe difficulties arose out of J tho complicated &tate of the registration | laws of the Cape Colony and the neces- j sity of ascertaining the precise location ' of voters in large divisions returning Eeveral members to the Cape House of Assem- < i bly, which had to be divided into bingle- | I member constituencies, such as already ; I existed in the Transvaal and Orange ; River Colony. In the two latter colo- j nies tho qualification is that of manhood , suffrage, limited to persons of European ' descent, and every voter is registered at ' his place of residence; in Na- j tal the qualification in some respects re- ' gombles that of the Cape, but plural : voting is still permitted there and ,' ownership as well as occupation or '• salary affords a qualification. In the Cape Colony qualification is based cither on "occupation" of premises of a certain value, or on "salary or wages" of a certain amount, together in each case with a prescribed period of residence. Tho elector must pass an educational test. The Cape law thus excludes many who would be eligible in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, while the prohibition of plural voting substantially diminishes the electorate as compared « with thot of Natal. On the other hand, the.Cape roll of 142,000 electors includes about 21,000 persons ot non-European race, all of whom would be ineligible in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, end practically all in Natal.

Tho Wellington Mission to Seamen has endorsed the Action taken by the Rev. Dr. Gibb and the Rev. J. J. North in condemning the play -" The Girl from Bectqr'Bj,- 1