THE TRANSVAAL PROBLEM.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXX, Issue 3785, 6 July 1899, Page 6

THE TRANSVAAL PROBLEM.

(oil) ,i;, IN THE BALANCE. NEGOTIATION OR WAR. MORE INDEFINITE PROPOSALS. JOHANNESBURG MERCHANTS. EXPECT THE WORST. RECOMMENDATIONS OF CONSULS, ORANGE FREESTATE IN A FIX. (Received July 5, 10.oG p.m.) PRETORIA, Wednesday.

President Kruger lias recommended that provision be made for the addition of four scats to outlandcr districts and fifteen to Boer districts. One of the latter contains among its residents 200CJ Europeans. His Honor recommends that in future Boers and outlanders shall have equal representation so far as Johannesburg is concerned. Leading men in the Orange Free State arc disappointed with President Kruger’s proposal. M,r J. H. Hofmeyr, leader of the Afrikander Party in Cape Colony, is, however, hopeful that a peaceful adjustment of the question may be arrived at. President Kruger has asked Groat Britain to agree to the appointment of a judicial board of arbitrators, selected from public men in the South African colonics and States, to consider the matters in controversy. Nine hundred residents of Bulawayo, in Rhodesia, have signed the monster petition to the Queen, which was l initiated the other day at a public meeting in Capetown, and which prays for support to bo given by the British Government to the claims of tho outlanders in the Transvaal.

The unsettled state of affairs, and the consequent exodus from the Republic, have caused largo withdrawals to be made from the Pretoria Savings Bank. A great meeting of merchants held in Johannesburg unanimously passed a resolution in favour of the proposals made by Sir Alfred Milner at the Bloemfontein Conference. The meeting also decided to ask President Kruger that, with a view to stopping the exodus from the Republic, ho should give a guarantee that the forts which command Johannesburg shall not, in the event of war, attack the town. Another request which it was agreed to make was that the provisions of the Geneva Convention should be observed in the case of hostilities. The chairman of the'meeting announced that the various foreign Consuls had recommended individual members of their respective nations to prepare inventories of their belongings, with a view to their being prepared to prove losses in the event of looting taking place during any, disturbances which might occur. The Johannesburg police have bean ordered to cease carrying arms in the street. 1 (Received July 6, 1 a.m.) PRETORIA, Wednesday. British warships have arrived in the vicinity of Delagoa Bay. The Hon A. J. Hcrholdt, M.L.C.. Secretary for Agriculture in the . Cape Colony Ministry, and Mr Hofmoyr have arrived in this city. (Received July 6, 1.5 a.m.) LONDON, Wednesday., , The “ Standard ” states that President Kruger was obstinate in his interview with Mr A. Fischer, a member of the Executive of the Orange Free State. The same paper alleges that Mr Fischer was seeking release from, or to frustrate the predicament into which the Orange Free State had landed itself by its hasty resolve to support thh adjoining republic. President Steyn, adds the “Standard,” realises that the people of the Orange Free State disapprove of Boer corruption, and would be unwilling to fight for the Transvaal.