THE CRISIS IN TRANSVAAL

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVII, Issue 36, 7 September 1899, Page 19

THE CRISIS IN TRANSVAAL

Thjjjre was a lull in South African affairs towards the end of last week, and it looked as if the Transvaal authorities were about to aooept the inevitable, and concede the demands of the Uitlanders as embodied in the proposals of Sir Alfred Milner. The leading German newspapers described President Kruger's action in raising the suzerainty question as mental aberration and obstinacy, and the Cologne Gaeette said if war was thus provoked nobody would move a finger to prevent the ruin of the ill-advised State. From a discussion which took place in the Yolksraad it appears that the Government had submitted to Mr. Chamberlain proposals, which meant a five years' franchise and one-fourth of the seats with equal rights in the election of president, which was equivalent to Sir Alfred Milner's original proposals, with the condition attached that Great Britain was not in future to interfere with the internal affairs of the Republic. This was tantamount to a relinquishment of her olaims regarding the suzerainty. Regarding these proposals Mr. Chamberlain declined to entertain the question of Great Britain relinquishing the rights contained in both conventions. He proposed a second convention at Capetown. General Joubert, speaking at Boksburg, said there certainly | would not be wafif Great Britain did not ask further concessions. It has transpired that the ammunition permitted by Mr. Schreiner to be landed at Port Elizabeth, and thence conveyed aoross Cape territory, was never intended for the Orange Free State, but went straight into the Transvaal. There is in consequence an intense anti-Sohreiner feeling prevalent at the Cape. A cable message dated Pretoria, September 2, stated that the Transvaal Government had consented to hold a conference at Capetown. When Mr. Chamberlain's despatch, declining to open the suzerainty question at the conference, was read in the Raad it was received with groans.

Active preparations for war are still going on in England, the First Royal Dragoon Guards are ordered to be in readiness to start for the Cape, and 2500 men are ready at Aldershot for mobilisation. Great military activity prevails at the Cape, and several hundred volunteers have been enrolled at Natal. Warlike preparations are going: on, too, in the Transvaal. Boer women's rifle clubs are being formed in several districts. A great exodus of Uitlanders continues from Johannesburg and other towns of the Transvaal. A German corps of 900 men to assist the Boers has been formed in Johannesburg. The Transvaal Government are requisitioning for railway rolling stock. There is a general panio at Johannesburg- and the distress is terrible, the food supplies being inadequate. At Pretoria it is believed war is inevitable. Martial law prevails in Johannesburg, and warrants are out against a number of Uitlanders. The editor of the Transvaal Leader has been arrested on a charge of high treason. The arrest has created a great sensation. A Pretoria message, dated last Monday, stated that the majority of the Raad demanded the declaration of the country's independence. It was reported, also, on the same date that President Kruger had withdrawn the second proposal for a five years 1 franchise, and that the Capetown Conference has been declined.