AFRICAN UNION.

Feilding Star, Volume III, Issue 801, 11 February 1909, Page 2

AFRICAN UNION.

THE NEW CONSTITUTION. PARLIAMENTRIANS TO BE OF EUROPEAN DESCENT. [BY ELECTBIC TELEGRAPH — COPYBIGHT.] [PER PBEBS ASSOCIATION.] Capetown, February 10. The draft constitution of the South African Federation, which hereafter will be called the Union, consists of a Governor-General (with , a salary of £10,000 per annum), an • Executive Council (empowered to no- ; minate eight Senators), a Senate to consist of forty members (each province electing eight, and the present Colonial Parliaments choosing them in the first instance, and the Provin. - . cial Councils subsequently), a House ■ ! Assembly (comprising fifty-one . mem- ' j bers for Cape Colony, seventeen for • Natal, seventeen for Orangia, and i thirty-six for the Transvaal). All members to be of European descent. Federal constituencies will be de-j limited on the basis of the European! adult male population, and there A • will be a quinquennial redistribu-B tion on the principle of. proportional! • , representation and a single transfer-^ able vote. English and Dutch lan- si . ' guages are 1 to have equal privileges. R 3 A Federal Court of Appeal is tosp" . be established with power of appeal|) , to the Privy Council. The Union - assumes all assets and ; debts, and takes over civil servants. ; Municipal debts, railways, and , ports are to be vested in three Coml missioners and a Cabinet Minister, i with a view to promote the settle- ■ ment of the agricultural and indus- • trial populations. The interests of the Native popu- ■ lations are carefully safeguarded, the sale of liquor to them being prohibited. __^_^______ m __ m