THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 1905. THE TRANSVAAL ASSEMBLY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12852, 28 April 1905, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 1905. THE TRANSVAAL ASSEMBLY.

The promulgation of a new Constitution for th - Transvaal Colony has i. decided for the time being the political status of the old Boer Republic. Since, the close of the war its government has been in the hands of a' Governor, assisted by an Executive. Council and advised by a Legislative Council. It was announced last' year that the legislative body I would be made elective, as a step towards the ultimate self-government which is universally desired for the new colonies, as much by the Imperial authorities as by the Boer element itself. The form of partial self-government which has been proclaimed is in its general character a modification of that not unusually established in modern Crown colonies. In Fiji, as in Jamaica, the legislative body is partially nominated by the Crown and partially elective ; but although in form the new Transvaal Legislative Assembly approximates to these it is separated from them by peculiar and unique differences. In no Crown colony proper does the European in the community constitute the unimpeachably dominant element, the coloured population so greatly out. numbering it as to necessitate Imperial support for the maintenance .of European occupation. In the Transvaal, however, in spite of the dread common to all South Africa of a native rising, the European -is as clearly master as in Cape Colony or Natal. The presence in the Transvaal Legislative Assembly ot Imperial nominees is due, not to the logically active participation, of the Crown in. a Government that dei pends directly upon it for the enforcement of its enactments over a | population generally incapable of ! self-government, but to the equally [logical determination of the Crown to retain authority over a colony, recently annexed, in which the loyalty of the greater part, of the European population itself cannot yet be implicitly relied upon. In an assembly containing not less than 30 and not 'more than, 35 elected members the ,Crown will nominal not less than '•six and not more than nine additional members, these latter roughly representing the military strength required to ensure the pacification "of the colony. In other words, the ! Transvaal Legislative Assembly is representative of hot I" the civil and the military population. The military will be withdrawn the moment that its presence is 110 longer required in the . Imperial interest, when the civil population has generally accepted the ■ Imperial [ connection and has unitedly determined to seek the well-being and prosperity of the colony under the Crown. With that withdrawal, a 'change in the Constitution will undoubtedly be proclaimed, placing the entire government in the hands of the civil population as is the hotable British method wherever autonomy is possible.

No legislative device, designed to effect a practical compromise between more or less opposing interests and elements, can be expected to give satisfaction to everybody. The Boers will naturally be disappointed a* the distribution of seats upon a voter instead of a population basis. But the peculiar conditions of the Transvaal obviously render population . representation temporarily impossible. As long as the Boers group themselves together against the British , residents . they cannot expect to obtain the supreme advantage / that electoral districts upon a population basis would give to their long-established people as against a body of newcomers, mostly centred on the mining fields. Of the 300,000 inhabitants of the Transvaal we may set down 250,000 as Boersi and 50,000 as British, to use the old terms. But the comparison of men Would show about 50,000 or 60,000 Boers and from 30,000 to 40,000 British, excluding the police and military. However satisfied we may be with female suffrage in n country Where there are few class and no racial distinctions, there is no arguliient. to be drawn therefrom in favour of the Boer desire to count the women and children when distributing seats and to allow the men to do all the voting. The situation does not admit of fancy theories and airy arguments. It was necessary to devise a plan by which a reasonable amount of self-government ,could be accorded to the Transvaal without imperilling 1 ' the'results of the war, and We may " well' be satisfied ' that, it was found possible to J devise ,a», fairly satisfactory'one. As for the franchise basis, it ■.is much more liberal than the Transvaal has ever known before. Every old Boer burgher and every white British subject, " Boer" or " British," who can meet a very simple residence and a very low property or income qualification will now take part in legislative government. It is noticeable that the system is unicameral, which is common in Crown colonies, but is only found in the .Canadian provinces among the self-governing British States. In Canada, .the Dominion authority, alone is bicameral, so it may be inferred that the. Imperial Government . anticipates a, South -African Federation, under which the Transvaal Colony may

find a single chamber sufficient for all local legislative purposes; While the "Boer" element will hardly be satisfied with the elector basis for electorates the " British" element may equally be dissatisfied with the language, concession, by .which a member, .with the permission of its President—who .is the . LieutenantGovernor— speak in. Dutch. It would have been more popular and possibly wiser to do as the Americans would have done, and shut the Taal completely from official proceedings, for the great -bulk of representative Boers speak English; and they must all understand it before the racial feeling can die out. But we may assume that the Taal will.be spoken and translated in the Transvaal Assembly as Maori is spoken and translated in our New Zealand Assembly, not treated as a tongue which English-speaking members must learn to understand what Boei members say. If the Boers accept the Constitution with any sincerity—and no one would expect them to accept it with enthusiasm— we shall have no cause to regret any minor concessions. The loyal British colonies may well regard it as an honest and earnest effort to close the wounds of racial schism.and will hope that it will have such a good effect as to speedily justify the establishment in the Transvaal of all those liberties and privileges which they themselves enjoy.